Fire in the Sky
by Mistywater55
Summary: full summary inside. Tigerclaw has succeeded and become ThunderClan's leader. Fireheart, Graystripe and Cloudpaw have been banished from ThunderClan, but the three will discover a long forgotten truth and secrets that will change the Clans forever. Poll added to Profile for plot development.
1. Chapter 1

New story idea, what If Tigerclaw succeeded in becoming the leader of ThunderClan and banished Fireheart, Graystripe and Cloudpaw. What if Fireheart and Cloudpaw were more connected to the Clans then what they first believed and what if Fireheart's mother knew secrets about the Clans that could change the lives of all the Clans.

Disclaimer: I don't own warriors or any of the characters in the series except my own original characters.

Prologue

A brown and white tabby padded slowly through the forest, pausing every few minutes to take in the air around her. She was currently on a solo hunt, but was keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. There had been plenty of disappearances that had occurred recently and she was keeping an eye out incase whatever had taken her clanmates tried to take her as well. She sniff along the shrubs and caught the scent of a vole. Being as silent as possible she focused all her attention onto catching the vole.

A grave mistake, as she leaped to end the vole's life, she became caught in strange looking vines that clung to her claws as she tried to wriggle from them. She froze from her struggles as she made out the gruff voice of a twoleg. She realized with a jolt that this twoleg had trapped her and renewed her struggles to escape. She was soon put into a monster in a strange nest that prevented her from escaping. Not long later she was soon taken to a large twoleg nest that had cats filled in the strange nest. She hissed, spat and fought with all her fury as a twoleg grabbed her from the nest she was in and was put into a different, nest. She growled as the twoleg stuck its hand in to put in foul smelling pellets and flat looking water into her nest.

"You must calm down or you'll end up like the others." A voice meowed in the nest beside her.

"What do you mean?" she hissed back quietly. Wishing she could see the other cat.

"This is a place that twolegs bring cats so that they can become kittypets." The voice of another cat meowed. The she-cat growled in anger.

"I don't want to be a kittypet and I won't let them turn me into one." She hissed fiercely.

"Then you will end up like the others." The first cat meowed again solemnly. The she-cat blinked in confusion.

"What happen to the others?" she meowed quietly.

"They were killed by the twolegs for not submitting and becoming kittypets, they called themselves warriors or something." The second cat voiced again. The she-cat blinked in horror.

"They're going to kill me? Why I've never done anything to them and I was happy where I was." She meowed

"They won't harm you if you submit and be friendly it's the only way you'll survive." The second cat again. The she-cat closed her eyes and swallowed her prided knowing it was the only way she would live to see the sun.

Not long later the she-cat sat gazing at the moon with a large ginger tom slumbering beside her. 'I never would have guessed that any of my Clan mates survived that horrid place.' She thought as she looked down at the ginger tom, before looking at her own swollen belly full of kits. 'I hope at least one of my kits finds happiness outside this twoleg nest. '

Chapter 1

He had done it, he killed Bluestar, and he would now be the leader of ThunderClan. Fireheart looked on in helplessness and anger that he hadn't been present to save Bluestar.

The ginger warrior had let Cloudpaw take his assessment near Sunningrocks and had returned to find the camp in near ruins, his Clan mates injured and his leader dead. 'What will become of us now that he is the leader' he thought bitterly as he looked up at the dark tabby warrior addressing the Clan. Their leaders body already sent off to buried.

"I will go to receive my nine lives tonight and I will leave Darkstripe in charge until I return." Tigerclaw meowed from his position at the high rock. Fireheart glanced over at Graystripe who seemed to be sending worried glances at the nursery. 'He has every right to be worried.' He thought before standing and padding over to stand beside his friend. Graystripe looked at Fireheart with eyes full hopelessness in his gaze.

"What will I do Fireheart? What if Tigerclaw gives up my kits? He won't fight for them like Bluestar did, he just won't." Fireheart touched his tail on his friends shoulder.

"We will figure out something." Fireheart meowed soothingly to his friend. As he watched Tigerclaw disappear through the camp entrance. Fireheart glanced around and watched the other cats go back to their duties before Tigerclaw's announcement. Fireheart nudged Graystripe.

"Let's go for a hunt and try to take our mind off it all." He meowed as he headed for the gorse tunnel they were heading through the tunnel when they were stopped by Darkstripe who sneered at the two as he approached.

"Where do you think the two of you are going?" he hissed angrily looking back and forth between the two. Fireheart held Darkstripe's stare as he answered.

"We were going out to hunt, the fresh-kill pile looks a little low and we thought we'd help replenish it." Fireheart meowed evenly. Darkstripe snorted before dismissing the two, and padding off to see to other matters. Graystripe sniffed in contempt as he watched the dark warrior pad away.

"He acts as if he's clan deputy." Graystripe hissed under his breath as he watched him pad away before pushing through the gorse tunnel.

"Don't forget Tigerclaw's the leader now for all we know he will be the new deputy." Fireheart growled in frustration. The two bounded off doing their best to hunt to take their mind off things to come. They had brought back a substantial amount of prey for the fresh-kill pile and picked out a few pieces of prey for themselves before heading to their nest to sleep. Fireheart brushed his pelt against Graystripe's as he curled into his nest and fell into a restless sleep.

~_Fireheart was curled up his nest, when he felt a paw gently prod his side. He opened his eyes to see a dark tortoiseshell coat and two amber eyes looking at him. Fireheart was on his paws at once, standing about a tail-length from where Spottedleaf was sitting. He looked at Spottedleaf with mixed feelings in his heart._

"_How could you let this happen?" he croaked. Spottedleaf looked at him with eyes filled with pain._

"_There is nothing that could have been done to stop It" She mewed sadly. Fireheart shook his head._

"_There is much more that could have been done. You could have warned her." He spat angrily. Spottedleaf didn't flinch, but the pain and sorrow in her eyes increased._

"_StarClan's power is limited; there is only so much we can do." She meowed. Fireheart lashed his tail in anger. Spottedleaf rose to her paws and padded over to Fireheart to place her muzzle gently on his head. "If we could we would have stopped it." She meowed softly._

"_There are more important things to be focused on." A new voice spoke up. Fireheart looked behind Spottedleaf and saw a pale gray tom with white patches gazing at him._

"_Yes he is right; I've come to tell you that what will happen is meant to happen." Fireheart gave her an incredulous look._

"_Bluestar meant to die?" Fireheart shook his head. "No I refuse to believe that's true." _

"_You must believe it, and trust what I tell you now." She meowed fiercely at him. "I don't have much time left, but you need to know that your journey has just begun." She began to fade away along with the mysterious tom._

"_Fire will burn in the sky and scorch the roaring tiger." Echoed Spottedleaf's voice_

Fireheart was nudged awake by Sandstorm who was looking at him expectantly. He yawned a little before looking up into Sandstorm's face. The sweet scent of Spottedleaf hung in the air.

"Morning, Sandstorm what is it?" he mewled quietly, shaking himself to rid his mind of the strange dream.

"Tigerstar is back from the moonstone and is calling a meeting." She mewled back quietly. Fireheart felt his blood turned cold in horror, he gave Sandstorm a nod before following her out onto the clearing where other cats were gathering. He spotted Graystripe sitting close to the nursery entrance and moved to sit beside him. He noticed with a hint of dread that Tigerstar seemed to be looking in his direction.

"Cats of ThunderClan, I have received my nine lives and I'm now ready to take my place as leader of my Clan. As my first order of business I name Darkstripe as my deputy." The cats gave Darkstripe praise and congratulations. Fireheart and Graystripe stayed silent. 'Like that's a big surprise' Fireheart thought sarcastically. Tigerstar waited for the cats to quiet down before speaking again.

"And now I plan to give proper punishment where it is due." Fireheart could feel the fur along his spine begin to rise slowly, as Tigerstar stared directly at him as he spoke.

"I feel Bluestar didn't punish two of our warriors the proper way, they have both broken the warrior code and they weren't properly punished." He meowed in a cool voice. Fireheart pressed his pelt against Graystripe's and could sense the horror from his friend that he felt.

"And it is for that reason that I must take action" Tigerstar continued. "Fireheart and Graystripe you are both banished." The Clan looked up at Tigerstar in shock, Fireheart felt a little numb, with Graystripe looking grief stricken.

"You can't do that they're good warriors they obey the warrior code." meowed Cinderpaw. A few warriors agreed with her words and Fireheart felt a warm feeling overcome him from hearing her words. Tigerstar narrowed his eyes at her.

"Do you think that feeding an enemy Clan or having a relationship with an enemy warrior is following the warrior code? Because I don't, real warriors wouldn't do what they've done." He growled lowly, Fireheart noticed that Tigerstar's little gang of followers backed up his words. Cloudpaw glared fiercely at the dark tabby tom.

"Bluestar already punished them; it's not fair for you to punish them again." Cloudpaw hissed. Tigerstar fixed his gaze on the white apprentice.

"I can and I will, and you are to be banished as well, Bluestar made a mistake letting Fireheart come here and I won't make the same mistake." Tigerstar growled at Cloudpaw. The Clan once more was stunned. Cloudpaw stared at Tigerstar in disbelief.

"You can't do that." Cinderpaw yowled.

"My word is law and I say their banished, and they will leave now if they know what's good for them." Tigerstar hissed. Fireheart glared defiantly at Tigerstar, before glancing around at his Clan mates. Some cats wouldn't meet his eye, some looked sympathetic or sad, and the rest were glares and looks of glee. Cinderpaw came over to him muttering in his ear.

"I'll come with you." she mewled quietly. Fireheart shook his head.

"The Clan needs you and so does Yellowfang, take care of her." Fireheart meowed solemnly, taking a moment to glance at the old medicine cat. Yellowfang stared unblinkingly back at him. Fireheart thought he may of seen her give him a little nod. Cinderpaw nodded her eyes filled with overwhelming grief. Fireheart could see Brightpaw looking at Cloudpaw with a look of sadness on her face. He tried to look at Sandstorm but she won't meet his eyes. He turned and saw that Graystripe had his eyes on the nursery with a longing look on his face. Fireheart realized with a jolt. 'his kits, what about his kits?' he thought briefly, but before he could say anything Tigerstar , Darkstripe, Longtail, Dustpelt and Swiftpaw began to advance on the three banished cats, forcing them to head out the tunnel.

Once they had reached the other side they paused to decide a plan of action.

"What now? where do we go?" asked Cloudpaw looking up into Fireheart's eyes. Fireheart sighed before padding off.

"I'm not sure myself." He meowed and glanced over at Graystripe whose eyes were clouded over in sorrow. "I don't really want to leave the territory."

"I wonder what Princess will think of this?" thought Cloudpaw. Fireheart paused for a moment and then began to stride purposefully toward the twolegplace. Cloudpaw picked up his pace to keep up with Fireheart and Graystripe blinked at Fireheart slowly in confusion.

"I'm going to see if Princess can find someone to look after Graystripes kits." He meowed Graystripe's eyes seemed to brighten as he looked at Fireheart.

"Do you really think so Fireheart? You think she could help?" asked Graystripe with a hopeful look on his face. Fireheart glanced at Graystripe briefly, as he picked up his pace a little more.

"I don't know for sure, but if she can help us then we can make plans to get your kits from ThunderClan." Fireheart replied keeping his brisk pace. Graystripe nodded his head racing to keep up with his friend, with Cloudpaw at his heels.

They reached Princess' garden before long and waited patiently for the tabby and white she cat to emerge from her twoleg nest. It wasn't long before Fireheart saw the familiar head of his sister poke out of the nest, as she came through the flap in the door. Her eyes brightened at the sight of her brother and her son and she quickly went over to greet them.

"Fireheart, Cloudpaw it's so good to see you. Who is your friend?" she asked giving a friendly look at Graystripe who seemed a little shy about being in Princess's garden.

"This is Graystripe, he's my friend I told you about." Princess purred softly giving Graystripe a friendly greeting before coming to stand by her son.

"How are you all doing in the Clan?" she asked softly between giving Cloudpaw brisk licks on his ears. Cloudpaw seemed to lean into his mother inviting the comfort that she was giving him. Fireheart gave his sister a sad weary look.

"We have been banished from the Clan." He meowed softly. Princess looked at him in alarm.

"Why would they banish you? What has happened?" she asked with great concern. Fireheart sighed before answering.

"Bluestar has died, and Tigerstar has replaced her as the leader of ThunderClan, he has never liked me or Cloudpaw and has a distain for Graystripe after he took a mate outside of ThunderClan, which is against the warrior code, he used past mistakes that Graystripe and I made to have us banished and Cloudpaw was banished simply because he was my kin." Fireheart meowed sadly.

"That's terrible, how could he do such a thing?" Princess meowed.

"It gets worse, Graystripe's mate, Silverstream, died giving birth to their kits, a ThunderClan queen was taking care of them after she had passed away and Silverstream's Clan wanted those kits to be in their own Clan." Fireheart paused briefly before continuing.

"Bluestar had been trying to decide whether or not to keep the kits. We are worried about what will happen to them." Fireheart finished, Princess looked a little confused

"If their being taken care of by a ThunderClan queen then why are you so worried for their safety?" she asked

"The Clan have had mixed feelings for the kits since their not all ThunderClan, and the queen whose is raising them already has two kits of her own and the father of her kits is Tigerstar himself." Fireheart growled softly. Princess had begun to share the look of worry that Graystripe had earlier.

"I may be able to help." Princess meowed finally. Fireheart blinked in surprise and Graystripe's hopeful look was restored.

"Princess, you know someone who can take in the kits?" asked Fireheart hopefully.

"Not me personally, but our mother knows a she-cat who gave birth to a single kit not too long ago." Princess meowed. Fireheart's eyes widened

"You've seen our mother? How is she?" Princess purred softly at Fireheart's eager questions.

"Yes I've seen her and she is well, she is starting to look a little thin for a housecat, but she is well." Princess answered softly. "I've told her all about you and how you've taken to Clan life. She always told me that she is proud of you and Cloudpaw." Cloudpaw seemed to brighten considerably and Fireheart looked surprised.

"You mean she isn't worried about us? Or upset with us for joining ThunderClan?" he asked in surprise. Princess shook her head.

"No she was beyond thrilled; I even remember her saying once that she hoped that one of us would find happiness outside the nest of a Twoleg." Fireheart felt even more surprised. Graystripe who had been sitting around watching the encounter padded up to Fireheart nudging his friend lightly.

"You okay Fireheart?" he asked looking closely at his friend. Fireheart nodded briefly before turning his attention to Princess.

"Can you take us to our mother?" he asked Princess "The sooner we speak to this queen about Graystripe's kits the better." Princess nodded in agreement.

"Of course, follow me." She meowed before leaping on to a fence that led further into the twolegplace. Fireheart followed right behind her, with Cloudpaw leaping up behind him and Graystripe bring up the rear.

They hadn't gone too far into the twolegplace, when they spotted a tall twoleg nest, with a wide garden and plenty of grass, bushes and shrubs that covered the ground, there was a pond that was two foxlengths long and one foxlength wide that had a small cascade waterfall. There were a few trees in the garden, with trunks big enough for a cat or two to hide behind. There was also a den that was created by two large rocks sheltering a gap beneath an oak tree, but the most surprising of all, was the scent of prey that hung in the air. Fireheart felt warmth overcome him from seeing the old garden and smelling the vegetation, it brought back memories of his kithood before he was given his own twolegs.

"Wow, this place looks like a little forest; no wonder you didn't mind joining ThunderClan." Graystripe breathed as looked around taking in the new scents and smells. Cloudpaw too seemed surprise by the sight of the garden.

"Yeah it's incredible; I've never seen a garden like this." Cloudpaw meowed, as he looked around at the garden from his spot on the fence. Princess purred softly in amusement before hopping down into the garden. Fireheart leaped after her eager to see his mother, Cloudpaw leaped after Fireheart and quickly caught up with his mother, Graystripe sat around on the fence for a moment, he was a little unsure if he wanted to enter this new territory, but he got up the nerve to jump after his friend and his family.

They padded through the soft grass that covered the ground they walked on; Princess had taken the lead and was leading the group to a spot that she thought her mother might be lounging. She led the group over to a small boulder, which was currently being used by a tabby she-cat as a sunning rock. Princess purred loudly as she looked at the she-cat before calling out a greeting.

"Mother, I'm here and I've brought Rusty and Cloudpaw." She called out. The pretty she-cat looked up from her spot on the rock to face the visitors. A purr escaped the she-cat as she headed straight for Fireheart.

"Is it really you Rusty?" she asked softly as she approached. Fireheart nodded gently.

"Yes it's me but my name isn't Rusty anymore its-"The she-cat cut him off quickly.

"Fireheart, I know my little sparrow told me." Graystripe looked confused.

"Little sparrow?" he asked in confusion.

"My, special name for Princess, and who are you?" she meowed curiously, staring at him with sharp, hawk-like, eyes. Graystripe looked a little nervous before answering her softly.

"My name is Graystripe, I'm a warrior from ThunderClan" he mewled softly. The she-cat studied him for a moment before turning back to Fireheart." She purred softly

"What brings you here? I would have thought you had duties to perform." Fireheart looked away with a pained looked in his eyes. His mother gave him a worried look. "Fireheart, are you ok?"

"We have been banished" Fireheart meowed miserably. His mother looked on in shock turning to look at Graystripe and Cloudpaw who nodded in conformation.

"What happened?" she asked softly. Fireheart quickly began to explain what had occurred from the time he first joined ThunderClan all the way to Graystripe, Cloudpaw and His' banishment. Fireheart noticed his mother's eyes were a mixture of anger, sorrow and surprisingly relief.

"I never thought it would happen, but this is a sign that we were meant to go back." She meowed softly. Fireheart glanced at Graystripe who looked just as confused as he did. Cloudpaw leaned over to Princess and murmured quietly in her ear.

"She doesn't look that old, but I have a feeling her mind is gone." Princess swatted his ear with a disapproving look, though she too wore a look of confusion. Fireheart finally voiced what was on everyone's mind.

"Mother we can't go back to ThunderClan, we want to get Graystripe's kits but…" he trailed off as his mother began to laugh softly.

"I don't mean back to ThunderClan, I meant back to my birth Clan." She mrrowed with laughter. Now every cat wore identical looks of shock and confusion.

"Wait, you mean we're not kittypets?" asked Cloudpaw looking up at her with confusion and surprise. She purred softly and nodded.

"Yes you aren't kittypets, because I myself wasn't one, I was born to a clan." Everyone's eyes were wide with shock.

"But if we aren't kittypets, then what Clan do we belong to?" asked Fireheart

"The noblest Clan of them all, SkyClan"

~ Okay I know that last sentence isn't exactly true, but I kind of feel like every clan cat would feel that way about their respective clan.

Surprise, Surprise their SkyClan cats, now I know they really aren't but I decided I would use a Clan that was once present with the original four Clans, just to spice it up a bit. I've always wanted to do a story where Fireheart , Graystripe and Cloudpaw leave thunderclan and join a different clan that is actually the birth clan of Fireheart and Cloudpaw, but I never had any real motivation for them to leave.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer I do not own warriors

*Spoilers for Firestar's Quest*in this chapter.

Chapter 2

"I definitely think she has lost it" Cloudpaw muttered under his breath. Fireheart and Princess looked at their mother in confusion. Graystripe voiced what was on everyone's minds.

"What are you talking about? There are only four Clans in the forest and none of them are called SkyClan" Graystripe yowled. Fireheart saw his mother give Graystripe a sharp look that was laced with venom.

"Of course you wouldn't know it, but you're the reason SkyClan is no longer a part of the forest." She spat angrily, causing Graystripe to flatten his ears to his skull. Fireheart padded over to his friend and fixed his mother with another bewildered look.

"But how can Graystripe be responsible for SkyClan no longer being a part of the forest? And if SkyClan is was a real Clan then how come none of the other Clans have ever mentioned them?" Fireheart asked her gently. Fireheart saw his mother give him a gentle look.

"For me to explain that I must start from the beginning." She meowed softly, padding over to the boulder she had been sunning on, beckoning with her tail for them to follow her. She leaped onto the boulder moving over to make enough room for the other four to lie on.

"I'm sure you've heard the story of Thunder, Shadow, Wind, and River right?" she meowed looking at Graystripe. He nodded slowly. "What you probably haven't heard was a bout the fifth leader Sky who was involved in the creation of the clan's as well, SkyClan's territory use to rest where we lay this very day." Fireheart, Cloudpaw and Princess stared at her in shock, while Graystripe still remained skeptical, but chose not to voice his opinion.

"What happen to SkyClan then?" Princess asked softly with a look of curiosity. Her mother looked at her gently.

"Many seasons ago, the last SkyClan leader to rule here on this land was a cat named Cloudstar, he was said to have pale gray fur with patches of white like the clouds above us and blue eyes as bright as the morning sky." Just then Fireheart mind went back to his dream of Spottedleaf and the mysterious gray and white cat. 'Could that have been Cloudstar? If so, what did he want with me and why was he with Spottedleaf?'He brushed the thoughts away to listen more intently to his mother's story.

"During Cloudstar's reign, twolegs began to destroy SkyClan's territory and…"

"Create the twolegplace." Cloudpaw finished, Princess gave her son a disapproving look

"You shouldn't interrupt someone when their talking." She mewled sternly. She heard her mother mrrow with laughter.

"It doesn't bother me Princess and yes Cloudpaw the twolegplace was the reason for the destruction."

"So what happened then?" asked Cloudpaw

"Cloudstar did all he could to keep SkyClan where they were, he even went as far as to try and win territory from ThunderClan, sadly because the Clan wasn't able to catch enough prey to sustain itself properly at the time, so they didn't have the strength to fight for it. In his last effort to keep the Clan in the forest, he asked the other leader's if they would be willing to share their lands so that SkyClan could have territory to live in."

"But they refused." Fireheart meowed solemnly; he was beginning to see why his mother was acting so hostilely to Graystripe.

"Yes, they refused, his mate, Birdflight had kits too small to travel and as a result, she had to stay behind, fortunately ThunderClan took her and her kits in before SkyClan left the forest behind."

"That is terrible, what became of them?" Princess meowed sadly.

"They found a new home, in a new forest and live there now to this very day." Graystripe decided now to speak up.

"If all of this is true then why are you just telling Fireheart and Princess all of this now?" Princess' eyes widened suddenly.

"Maplefall" she breathed softly. Fireheart's eyes widened understandingly.

"She did tell us." He meowed softly looking at his mother. "When we were kits she told us stories of a wild cat named Maplefall who lived in a gorge with other wild cats that lived together with rules that they live by."

"Your, Maplefall aren't you mother?" Princess asked softly. The she-cat purred softly giving a warm look at her kits.

"Yes I am" she purred softly. "The stories I told you both back then were about my life in SkyClan."

"Then what happened? Why are you here instead of there? Why are **we** here instead of there?" Cloudpaw asked in confusion.

"I was captured by twolegs who took me from my Clan and brought me to this horrible twoleg nest were cats were forced to become kittypets or they would never see the sun again." Maplefall growled low in her throat. Princess' eyes widen and she yowled in horror.

"That can't be true Maplefall." She wailed in despair. Maplefall nodded solemnly.

"I'm afraid it is my dear sparrow." She meowed softly. Princess pressed her pelt against Cloudpaw's and gently licked his ears as she her eyes became clouded over. Fireheart briefly wondered if she was thinking of her other kits and where they were. That thought brought him back to the original reason they had come to see Maplefall.

"Maplefall, Princess said that you knew a queen who recently had a kit, is that true?" he asked, giving Graystripe a quick glance.

"Yes I do know a cat, her name is Raincloud, and she is a SkyClan warrior as well. She was captured awhile after I was. She has recently lost her mate and has been raising her single kit alone. Why do you ask?" she meowed curiously. Fireheart quickly explained Graystripe's kits had been left behind and how they were in danger of being harmed by Tigerstar. Maplefall listen carefully as Fireheart also explained his suspicions of Tigerstar and how he believed that Tigerstar was the one responsible for Bluestar's death. After hearing all of this she took a moment to look at Graystripe and saw how worried he looked for is kits.

"Are they very young?" she asked after a moment.

"Yes they are, they still need milk, and it's the only reason we didn't take them with us when we left." Fireheart meowed gently.

"I see, you wish to retrieve the kits from ThunderClan and have Raincloud look after them?"

"Only until they no longer need milk, then I could look after them myself." Graystripe meowed hopefully.

"You won't need to look after them yourself." Maplefall meowed gently. "Come, we will go to her garden and ask her if she would be willing to take care of them."Maplefall rose from where she was resting on the boulder and darted off toward the fence line. The others quickly followed her leaping onto the fence and following her through another maze of twoleg nests.

They soon arrived at another fairly large twoleg nest, with a semi big garden. As they jumped off the fence and into the garden, a large ginger cat leaped out from behind a bush with his claws unsheathed, and back arched. Fireheart, Graystripe and Cloudpaw instinctively formed a protective line between Maplefall, Princess and the strange ginger tom and growled threateningly. Maplefall nudged her way between Fireheart and Graystripe padding up to the other tom and giving a gentle greeting.

"Hello Jake, how are you?" she meowed gently. The tom now known as Jake sheathed his claws, but still watched the other cats with a sharp eye.

"I'm well Nutmeg, these cats you have brought with you, who are they?" meowed Jake. Mapletail beckoned her kits closer to her with her tail so that Jake could get a better look of them.

"You must recognize these two, though they were little kits the last time you saw them." She meowed gently with a hint of wistfulness. Jake looked closer at the Fireheart and Princess, his eyes widened suddenly in realization.

"Rusty? Princess?" he meowed gently, padding closer to the two. Princess pressed her pelt against Fireheart's looking from her mother to the large ginger tom. Fireheart's eyes narrowed a little looking at the tom carefully.

"Who are you? How do you know our names?" Fireheart asked curiously, glancing at Princess seeing the same look confusion in her eyes that he was so certain was reflected in his own stare. Jake purred softly.

"What sort of father would I be, if I didn't recognize my own kits?"

"You're their father?" Cloudpaw asked, with a look of surprise. Jake looked the young white apprentice over and nodded.

"I am, but who are the two of you?" Jake meowed with a suspicious look. Princess wrapped her tail around Cloudpaw.

"This is my son, Cloudpaw and this is Graystripe a ThunderClan warrior. They trained beside Fireheart as warriors in ThunderClan." Princess meowed gently.

"Fireheart?" Jake asked in confusion.

"My warrior name I received in ThunderClan." Fireheart meowed, Jake blinked slowly and nodded in understanding.

"How did you end up as a warrior in ThunderClan?" Jake asked. Maplefall stepped forward touching her tail gently to Jake's shoulder.

"Later Jake, we are here to speak with Raincloud." Jake gave her a strange look. "We need to ask her if she would be willing to nurse some kits that are in danger." When Maplefall mentioned kits, Jake began to lead them to the cat-flap of the twoleg nest. Jake pushed his way into the nest, with Maplefall and Princess followed right behind him. Cloudpaw hesitated a moment then followed his mother in to the twoleg nest. Fireheart and Graystripe stopped just outside the nest.

"Is it safe to go in?" Graystripe asked quietly looking uneasily at the cat-flap. Fireheart could smell Graystripe's fear scent and touched his tail to his friend's shoulder comfortingly.

"Let's imagine it's Barley's barn, it will make it easier." Fireheart meowed reassuringly, though he himself was nervous about entering an unfamiliar twoleg nest. He led Graystripe to the cat-flap and carefully pushed his way into the nest. Graystripe hesitated a moment longer before following Fireheart into the twoleg's nest. Fireheart looked around recognizing, from his life as a kittypet, that he was in a kitchen, he recognized the faint scent of the dry pellets that he remembered eating as a kit. He felt Graystripe shivering next to him as his friend pressed his pelt closer to him. Graystripe's fear scent was stronger than it had been outside the nest.

"Fireheart, Graystripe over here." Princess meowed from around a corner. Fireheart and Graystripe followed Princess further into the twoleg nest, till they reached a basket that was full a sheets and pillows that faced away from a large window. Inside the basket lay a pretty silver tabby with long feathery legs and tail. The she-cat watched them approach with curious bright blue eyes; as she wrapped her tail tighter around the little silver bundle of fur that was nuzzled against her body. She narrowed her eyes at the newcomers.

"Nutmeg, who are these cats?" she hissed quietly,

"Why does everyone call you Nutmeg?" Cloudpaw meowed in confusion. Maplefall purred a little brushing her tail over Cloudpaw's ears.

"That's the name my twolegs gave me, it's my kittypet name." Maplefall meowed. Princess nodded.

"Yes, remember Fireheart's name was Rusty before he joined ThunderClan." Princess meowed softly.

"You haven't answered my question Nutmeg." Raincloud meowed, getting Maplefall's attention.

"My kits and their friends need your help." Maplefall meowed gently, beckoning Fireheart closer so he could speak to Raincloud. Fireheart quickly explained to Raincloud all that had happened during their time at ThunderClan.

"We came to ask if you could nurse Graystripe's kits, they are in danger in ThunderClan, I don't trust Tigerstar not to hurt them." He meowed softly. Raincloud watched him carefully, and began to consider all that had been said, Graystripe padded forward and look pleadingly into her eyes.

"Please, they're all I have left of Silverstream, and I couldn't bear to lose them." Graystripe meowed softly. Raincloud her eyes and when she opened them there was a glimmer of sadness that filled her gaze.

"I know what it's like to lose your mate and having to raise your kits alone and the warrior code states that all kits should be protected." She meowed softly. "I will nurse these kits if you can bring them to me."Fireheart blinked gratefully at her and Graystripe looked like he was ready to yowl to the sky in happiness.

"Thank you, I promise to look after you and your kit as well as my own."Graystripe meowed happily. Raincloud nodded gently purring softly as she licked her kit's ears.

"So what happens afterward?" Jake meowed suddenly. Everyone looked questioningly at him.

"What do you mean?" Fireheart asked watching his father closely. Jake turned to face Fireheart.

"You've all been banished from ThunderClan. Will you join a different clan or become kittypets or rogues?" he asked curiously. Fireheart looked at Graystripe and Cloudpaw; they hadn't thought that far ahead so they didn't think about what they would do to after they rescued Graystripe's kits. Maplefall spoke up suddenly.

"We will go to SkyClan." Maplefall meowed firmly. Every cat looked at her in surprise. "We all should go together."

"But Willowkit isn't big enough to travel that distance." Raincloud mewled worriedly.

"And my kits aren't big enough to travel that far either." Graystripe added giving Maplefall his own look of worry. Maplefall gave them both gentle looks before responding.

"We won't leave for a long while; the kits will need to get use to each other and Raincloud first." Soothed Maplefall, "Besides we'll have to carry them most of the way anyway." Jake lowered his ears to his skull and faced away from her.

"I can't go." He meowed solemnly. Maplefall padded over to him to touch his ears with her tail gently.

"Yes you can, you were Sunblaze, SkyClan's mightiest warrior, before you were brought to this twolegplace and you can be again." She meowed gently. Fireheart, Graystripe and Cloudpaw looked on in surprise.

"You were a SkyClan warrior too?" Cloudpaw stared in surprise.

"Yes I was, and I was also one of the first cats to disappear." Jake meowed "I've been a kittypet so long I don't think that I can be a warrior again."

"We'll need everyone, if we are going to make it back to our birth Clan, with those three kits." Maplefall meowed determinately.

"You don't even know the way back to the gorge; it could take seasons for us to find it again." Jake argued. Maplefall turned and jumped onto the windowsill and stared longingly out of the window. The sky was beginning to turn a rusty color as the sun grew closer to sinking below the trees as she looked out the window.

"Since I became a kittypet; I've had dreams of our birth clan and the gorge, when our kits were born those dreams got stronger and I believe these dreams will lead us back to SkyClan." She meowed firmly. Fireheart felt that he could understand his mother's talk of the dreams she had, remembering that his own dreams had led him to ThunderClan.

"You're not a medicine cat, how can you even trust these dreams?" Jake countered. Maplefall turned around to give Jake a long hard look before answering.

"I just know, if you had the dreams too maybe you would understand." She meowed softly. Fireheart leaped up beside his mother on the sill and turned to face everyone.

"I trust Maplefall, I think these dreams of hers will lead us to SkyClan, I think she-s right when she says we should find our way back to them." He meowed determinately, thinking of the dream he had had the night before. He was certain that this was the journey that Spottedleaf was telling him about. Cloudpaw leaped up beside him.

"I think so too, and we should go back to them, we shouldn't be stuffing our faces full with kittypet food we should be patrolling and hunting in our territory."Cloudpaw meowed firmly. Fireheart noticed that Princess seemed a bit hurt by Cloudpaw's words but he also saw Princess give him a look of pride. Jake seemed to be reconsidering, and Raincloud looked excited though Fireheart could still see a little a bit of worry in her gaze for her precious kit that was squirming against her belly. The only one who didn't seem so thrilled about the idea was Graystripe. He could tell that his friend wasn't sure he wanted to take his kits on this journey. Fireheart was shaken from his thoughts by his mother's voice.

"We can discuss all of this later; we still need to gather Graystripe's kits from ThunderClan and then we can decide what to do from there." Maplefall meowed, "Fireheart, when do you and Graystipe plan to get the kits?"

"We should go as soon as possible." Graystripe meowed with a hint of urgency.

"Then let's go now." Cloudpaw meowed, leaping down from the window sill and began to head back the way they had come, when Fireheart called out for him.

"Wait Cloudpaw it's already dusk, by the time we reach camp it will be too dark to safely travel with the kits." He meowed quickly to his nephew. Cloudpaw sat down looking agitated. Princess looked at them both with a confused expression.

"Can't you just steal them" asked Princess.

"No, that's too dangerous especially if we're caught." Fireheart answered. "We'll have to go early tomorrow and wait for a patrol to see us." Graystripe stared anxiously at him.

"I don't think we should wait that long, we should get them now Fireheart." Maplefall stepped forward and touched her tail to Graystripe's shoulder.

"This queen you left them with, is she nice to your kits?" Maplefall asked gently. Graystripe blinked at her a moment then nodded.

"Then you need not worry." She meowed soothingly. "She will not let harm come to them, Fireheart is right by saying you should wait till tomorrow, a lot can happen under the cover of darkness." Graystripe listened closely to her words and after a moment of hesitation nodded gently excepting the decision.

"Okay, but we go for them first thing tomorrow?"Graystripe meowed looking over at Fireheart. Fireheart nodded quickly in agreement.

"I'll be the first to sink my teeth who denies us those kits." Cloudpaw growled.

"Wait Cloudpaw, only I and Graystripe will get the kits." Fireheart meowed. Cloudpaw looked at him in confusion.

"Why can't I go?" he asked glaring at Fireheart. Fireheart sighed and jumped down to sit beside Graystripe.

"There are only two kits so only two of us need to get them." Fireheart meowed carefully. "Also this could be dangerous; you should be here to look after Raincloud and her kit for the journey to SkyClan." Cloudpaw looked like he was going to protest at first, but then he began to nod reluctantly. Princess padded up to Fireheart and gave him a brisk lick on the ear.

"Be careful Fireheart, you, Graystripe and those kits come back safely" she murmured gently.

"Graystripe, you and Fireheart can stay in the garden of my nest tonight, we'll leave for the kits just before dawn." Maplefall meowed. "If it all goes well, then hopefully the kits will be back here by sunhigh."

"I'll keep my ears open for you three." Raincloud meowed gently from her place within her basket.

"Cloudpaw will stay with me tonight." Princess meowed, gently grooming her son's thick fur. Cloudpaw seemed a little annoyed but didn't protest.

"Are you both ready then?" asked Maplefall leaping from the sill to stand in front of the two warriors.

"Yes we're ready." Graystripe answered looking very determined. Maplefall nodded

"Very well then I will lead you back to the forest, so you may collect the kits, as I said hopefully we can get them before sunhigh, it would be better if the kits were back here before dusk." She meowed briskly already heading toward the cat-flap that would lead them into the garden. The two former ThunderClan warriors charged after her.

It was long after dusk when they reached Maplefall's garden. Maplefall lead them around allowing them to find a good spot to settle down for the night. They decided to settle beneath the roots, of the large oak, that formed a small cave.

"As I'm sure you know, there is some prey running around here, if you get hungry feel free to catch some." She meowed softly. "I will wake you both before dawn and lead you back to the forest." And with that said she was gone leaving the two to their own thoughts.

"Are you hungry?" Fireheart asked Graystripe, watching his friend closely. Just then, Graystripe's stomach grumbled announcing the gray warrior's hunger. Fireheart purred in amusement before nudging his friend toward a bush in the garden. "Let's see what we can catch here."

A few plump mice later, the two warriors were in their den trying to make themselves comfortable enough to sleep that night.

"Do you think they're okay?" Graystripe meowed quietly.

"Yes, Goldenflower is a very nurturing cat, she won't let anyone harm them, if she had to she'd give them to RiverClan." Fireheart meowed comfortingly. His words seemed to be enough to help his friend get the peace he needed to finally get some sleep. Fireheart curled up in his nest pressing his pelt against Graystripe's and falling into a restless sleep.

Fireheart woke to the sound of his mother's voice calling from outside their den.

"Fireheart, Graystripe it's time to go." She meowed loudly into the den. Graystripe was on his paws and pushing his way out of the den in an instant. Fireheart stretched out of his nest and pushed his way out of the entrance to the den. He found Graystripe gulping down a plump mouse, Maplefall pushed another plump mouse next to his paws.

"You'll both need your strength today, we don't know what will happen, so you'need to be ready for anything," she meowed gently. Fireheart nodded and quickly snapped up the mouse savoring the delicious taste as he licked his lips. When they were finished Maplefall began to lead them back to the forest.

Maplefall lead them quickly through the twolegplace, before long they were sitting on a fence staring into the forest.

"Do you wish for me to go with you? Or would you rather I wait here?" Maplefall asked calmly.

"Graystripe and I should go alone. It will be easier for us to get them if we don't have to explain who you are to them." Fireheart meowed. Maplefall nodded in understanding.

"Very well, you both should go now then, I will wait for you to return." Fireheart and Graystripe leaped off the fence and ran into the forest. Fireheart felt happy to be back in the forest even though he knew it was temporary.

They started racing directly toward ThunderClan camp, suddenly Fireheart veered away from the path they were going and raced toward RiverClan territory. Graystripe stopped and stared bewilderedly after Fireheart, then raced after the fiery warrior. Only when they reached the bank of the river did Fireheart slow down. Graystripe gave Fireheart a strange look.

"I know we got kicked out of ThunderClan this morning, but I didn't think you would forget the where the camp is already." Graystripe panted slightly.

"I haven't forgotten where the camp is I just think that we shouldn't let Tigerstar know where we are staying," Fireheart meowed quietly.

"What do you mean?" Graystripe asked.

"I don't want him looking for us, if he thinks we are in RiverClan; then he won't feel the need to look for us." Graystripe still looked confused,

"Why would he look for us?"

"I think him banishing us is just an excuse for a reason for him to kill the both of us." Graystripe stared at him a long time blinking slowly as he answered.

"But, why would he want to kill us?"

"Ravenpaw, there is a chance he could have seen him on his trip to Highstones and realized that we were lying about him being dead. Remember Redtail wasn't killed by Oakheart, and Ravenpaw always believed that it was Tigerstar who killed him. I believe Ravenpaw and I think Tigerstar killed Bluestar and he knows that we both know this or at least he thinks I know about it and since we're friends he'd expect me to confide in you." meowed Fireheart. "I just hope Ravenpaw's okay."

"I see where you're going with this; Tigerstar would kill me even if I didn't know anything just to be sure I wouldn't tell what I know." Graystripe murmured, he sighed worriedly. "I hope the kits are all right."Fireheart sighed sadly and could only nod. He turned to look at the river and carefully padded into the running water getting his fur soaked.

"Come on we should make this look convincing." Fireheart meowed making sure the water didn't get into his mouth. Graystripe followed the fiery warrior into the water getting his fur nice and wet, climbing back onto the bank with Fireheart climbing out right behind them. Graystripe shook as much water from his pelt that he could. The two banished warriors sat side by side on the edge of the RiverClan border, waiting patiently to see if a ThunderClan patrol would appear.

It was a little after dawn when a patrol was first sighted. The two stiffened as they tried to make out the cats approaching in the distance. Before long FIreheart could make out the dusky brown pelt of Mousefur, the golden brown pelt of her apprentice, Thornpaw, a few steps behind them Fireheart saw the pale ginger pelt of Sandstorm and the unfamiliar pelt of another cat. It took Fireheart a moment before he recognized the pale gray cat with darker flecks that padded beside Sandstorm, it was Fernkit one of Bindleface's two surviving kits, though now Fireheart figured that her name had changed to Fernpaw and that she had become Sandstorm's apprentice. Suddenly Fernpaw let out a warning yowl and the three other cats in the patrol raced toward where the two were waiting.

When the patrol reached them, the hostile looks that had been on their faces had vanished but confusion had taken its place. Mousefur looked between the two before staring directly at Fireheart.

"What are the two of you doing here?" Mousefur asked with a slight edge in her voice. Sandstorm looked questioningly at Fireheart, but he completely ignored her in favor of answering Mousefur.

"We have come to take the kits." Fireheart meowed. Mousefur's look turned a little hostile.

"What kits?" Thornpaw growled a little. Graystripe gave the apprentice a vicious look. Fireheart gently touched his tail to Graystripe's shoulder.

"Graystripe's kits, they don't belong in ThunderClan, they belong with him." Fireheart meowed sternly.

"How will you care for them? Neither of you can give them milk; do you plan to starve them?" Mousefur hissed sharply.

"We've already found someone to care for them; we only need to bring them to her." Fireheart meowed calmly though he was beginning to feel nervous, Mousefur stared at him a moment longer, then looked closely at Graystripe. She murmured something to Sandstorm who nodded and raced off toward the camp. Graystripe started forward but Mousefur hissed at him warningly.

"You will wait here, if TIgerstar sends for you then you will be escorted back to camp." Mousefur meowed formally. Fireheart was shocked by the change in his clanmates after his banishment and the two of them had only been banished the day before. Now he truly began to worry for the kits.

It was getting closer to sunhigh when FIreheart saw two familiar pale ginger pelts padding toward them. Fireheart recognized the first cat as Sandstorm, and the she-cat the padded beside her was Goldenflower. Graystripe mewled happily beside him, and Fireheart saw that the two were carrying Graystripe's kits in their Jaws. Fireheart peered through the trees, tasting the air to make sure that there weren't any other cats hiding in the shadows. Mousefur looked at the two she-cats in surprise.

"Why did you bring those kits here?" she asked. Goldenfower gently placed the kit on the ground in front of her paws before answering.

"Tigerstar told us to give them up, he doesn't want them in ThunderClan anymore." She meowed; the other ThuderClan cats seemed surprised by this but none of them tried to stop the two she-cats from giving Fireheart and Graystripe the kits. Goldenflower placed the tiny she-cat she had carried in front of Fireheart's paws. As Fireheart bent down to pick her up Goldenflower murmured in his ear.

"I can't explain why, but please meet me at fourtrees two nights before the gathering." She whispered very quietly to Fireheart. He said nothing but gave her a discreet nod to show he understood. She blinked gratefully at him and turned to head back to camp. Fireheart turned his head and saw that Graystripe with his jaws full of his son.

"Okay you've got your kits now leave our territory, and the next time you won't leave unscathed."Mousefur hissed, coaxing the patrol follow her back to ThunderClan. Fireheart glanced at Graystripe and started leading him toward the stepping stones that would take them safely to RiverClan territory. Graystripe gave him a questioning look but then nodded in understanding when he could see some of the ThunderClan patrol watching them. As Fireheart climbed onto the stepping stone, the patrol had fully vanished and Fireheart carefully climbed back onto the ThunderClan side.

"Let's head back to the twolegplace." Fireheart meowed carefully to Graystripe. As they carried the two small precious bundles in their mouths, Fireheart thought about what Goldenflower had asked him. 'I wonder why she wants to meet us there.' Fireheart had a feeling of unease and began to pick up his pace. 'I just hope I won't regret meeting her.' With that thought finished, he and Graystripe moved a little faster putting the as much distance between them and the RiverClan-ThunderClan border.

~Yeah sorry I haven't updated this in a while I was just trying to figure out how to get the story to a certain point that I have planned in the future. This isn't that great of a chapter mainly because I'm nowhere near the point I want to be at yet for this story, but then again it's only the second chapter let me know what you think.~


	3. Chapter 3

I'm sorry it took so long to update. Here's the next chapter

Chapter 3

Fireheart and Graystripe carried the kits through the forest, careful not to jostle them too much as they made their way back to the twolegplace. As they walked Fireheart pondered what Goldenflower had asked him, he wondered what the golden queen wanted to meet with them for and whether or not it was a trap of some kind. He hadn't forgotten that she was Tigerstar's mate, and that the dark tabby could use her to get to them. He snapped out of his thoughts as they approached the fence that his mother was perched on.

"Are they well?" she called leaping from the fence to get a better look of the kits. Fireheart nodded placing the small silver tabby bundle on his paws, gently licking her fur.

"They're fine, and we didn't have to fight for them, Tigerstar gave them up without a fuss. " Fireheart told her, between licks. Maplefall padded up to Graystripe looking at the gray bundle of fur in his jaws.

"They're beautiful Graystripe, I'm glad their safe, now we must hurry and get them back to Raincloud, who knows when they were fed last." She meowed turning quickly and leading them to a gap in the fence that was big enough for them to fit through.

It was far passed sunhigh when the group reached Raincloud's twoleg nest. They padded quickly through the catflap, heading for the basket they knew Raincloud would be in. As they approached the nest, Raincloud looked up in surprise. Her eye's softened when she saw the small bundles of fur in the jaws of the two former ThunderClan warriors. She purred softly and moved her tail that was covering her single kit, Willowkit so that they could place them up against her belly. Once both of Graystripe's kits were in the nest they latched onto Raincloud, drinking her milk. Raincloud purred softly, covering all the kits with her tail.

"Their lovely kits Graystripe, I'm sure Willowkit will be fond of them. What are their names?" she asked softly.

"The gray tom is Stormkit and the silver tabby she-kit is Featherkit."Graystripe purred as he watched his kits squirming around with Raincloud's little kit. Fireheart purred softly as he watched the kits, with Mapletail lapping gently at Fireheart's ears.

"We should go, and let Raincloud have some time alone to bond with the kits." Mapletail murmured softly. Fireheart nodded and quietly padded up to Graystripe telling him they should go. Graystripe looked reluctant to leave the kits so soon, but with a reassuring look from Raincloud and gentle coaxing from Fireheart helped Graystripe relax enough to follow the two out of the twoleg nest.

Once outside the twoleg nest, they decide to head over to Princess' twoleg nest so they could reassure Princess and Cloudpaw that they had successfully gathered the kits without sustaining any injuries and also to decide what they would do now that Graystripe's kits were safe.

When they arrived at Princess's twoleg nest, Cloudpaw was the first to greet them.

"Your back, are the kits safe? What happened?" he meowed quickly looking back and forth between the cats. Fireheart purred in amusement.

"The kits are fine; we've already delivered them to Raincloud. We've come to see you and Princess." Maplefall explained.

"She's in the twoleg nest right now, I'll get her." Cloudpaw meowed quickly, and then dashed through the catflap to find his mother. Moments later the two emerged from the twoleg nest. Princess eyes were warm and filled with relief and happiness.

"You're both okay." Princess mewled softly, and quickly padded up to Fireheart brushing her cheek against his own gently. "The kits?" she asked

"They're fine." Fireheart meowed softly. "We'll take you and Cloudpaw to see them later." Princess nodded in understanding. Fireheart looked around Princess' garden. "Is Jake here?" Princess shook her head.

"No, he accompanied Cloudpaw and I back to my housefolk's nest then he left, we're not sure where he went." She meowed softly, with a tremor of worry in her tone. Maplefall gently touched her tail to Princess' shoulder gently.

"Don't, fret my little sparrow, Jake will be fine, I'm sure he will come around soon enough. For now we will focus on the future. "She murmured softly.

"Yeah, like how we're going to get to SkyClan." Cloudpaw meowed, bouncing with the excitement of seeing other Clan cats.

"We won't be leaving for a while Cloudpaw."Fireheart reminded the giddy white apprentice. He glanced over at Graystripe, who still had a look of skepticism, silently promising himself that he would talk privately with Graystripe, to find out his feelings. He was taken from the thoughts of his friend by his mother padding over to stand in front of the tree that sat in Princess's garden. Princess, Fireheart, Cloudpaw and Graystripe came to sit in a half circle around Maplefall.

"First and foremost, the kits are our top priority; I refuse to let anything happen to them." Maplefall meowed firmly. Each of them nodded their heads meowing their agreement. "We should wait until they are at the very least a moon old before we consider moving them any great distance."

"They will still need to be carried though." Fireheart pointed out. "They'll be able to walk for a distance but not the distance needed for this journey."Maplefall nodded her head.

"Yes we must also, see who wishes to come" her gaze was fixed firmly on the gray warrior. For the first time Fireheart glanced at his sister Princess. He remembered that she had been raised firmly as a kittypet; she never had an urge to leave her twoleg nest and had never been trained as a warrior. He only just now realized that she might not wish to come on this journey and it saddened Fireheart greatly.

"I'm going, I'm not going to sit around and get fat and lazy like other kittypets." Cloudpaw growled fiercely. Fireheart winced a little glancing at his sister, but he didn't see any hurt in her gaze only warmth for her son.

"I'll go as well." Graystripe meowed, with a little reluctance in his tone. Fireheart briefly wondered if the reluctance came from having to leave his home or having to take his kits on a dangerous journey. 'Or a little of both' Fireheart thought briefly.

"I'm going." Fireheart spoke gently, allowing his gaze to fall on Princess. The tabby and white queen let her amber gaze fall on every one.

"I'm not sure if I wish to go or not." Princess meowed softly. Cloudpaw looked at his mother in surprise.

"But why, don't you want to go?" he asked quietly with confusion on his face. Princess could only purr softly, gently lapping at his ears.

"Cloudpaw, I'm not use to the life you have grown up around and that Fireheart has experienced since he was six moons old. " She meowed softly. Cloudpaw looked hurt and he pressed his pelt against his mother's pelt. Fireheart glanced at Maplefall wondering how she felt about Princess not wanting to come on the journey, but her face remained expressionless.

"It's alright if you decide not to go Princess, but it isn't too late to teach you the ways of the warrior code." Maplefall meowed. "You have a while to decide for yourself what you wish to do, I will support either decision." Princess blinked gratefully at her mother, and seemed to contemplate her future. Fireheart padded over to Graystripe beckoning him to follow him over to a more secluded part of Princess' garden. Fireheart sat and patiently waited for Graystripe to do the same, before speaking.

"Are you okay with this Graystripe? Is this what you want to do?" Fireheart asked with concern. "You were born in ThunderClan, it must be devastating for you to have to leave the forest behind. Graystripe watched his friend and sighed a little in sadness.

"The truth is Fireheart if Bluestar had given up my kits to RiverClan I probably would have left ThunderClan to be with them, I really loved Silverstream and those kits are all I have left of her. I will do everything I can to keep them safe." Fireheart blinked in surprise, he never realized how close he had come to losing his best friend and was silently glad that Bluestar hadn't given the kits up right away.

"I would have supported you Graystripe, no matter what you decided." Fireheart meowed gently. Graystripe blinked gratefully at Fireheart.

"Do you think Princess will come with us?" Graystrpe asked glancing over at the tabby and white she-cat.

"I don't know, it's true that she has never had an interest in the forest before, and she seems more suited to the life of a kittypet, but then again I'm sure most of ThunderClan would say the same thing about me." Graystripe shook his head.

"No they wouldn't, you're every bit a warrior as any ThunderClan cat, any mistakes you made were no different than the mistakes an apprentice would make in any Clan, you are a Clan cat and if your mother's story is true than you really are a Clanborn cat." He meowed encouragingly. Fireheart purred his thanks before remembering something.

"Graystripe, when Goldenflower was giving me Featherkit she asked me to meet her two nights before the next gathering, so that she could speak with me about something." Graystripe looked suspiciously at him.

"What do you think she wants to speak about?" he asked curiously. Fireheart shrugged.

"You're guess is as good as mine, I don't know what to do, I know she is Tigerstar's mate, so this might be a trap to catch us, but it doesn't seem like something she would do." Fireheart meowed. "I do know that it was important, she looked at little worried when she gave the message."

"Maybe she's being threatened?"

"But why threaten her? She is raising his kits and she is the only one nursing kits in the nursery." Fireheart added. "Why would he risk the safety of his own kits?"

"Then maybe she is acting alone, but why would she wish to talk to you?"

"Maybe she suspects that Tigerstar isn't the cat the Clan believes him to be or that she saw something during the rogue attack." Fireheart meowed finally.

"I suppose, do you think you should meet with her?" Graystripe asked at last.

"I think so if it's about the rogue attack then what she tells us could be important."

"But, what can we do? We're supposed to be leaving to join SkyClan ."

"Yeah but Goldenflower doesn't know that, she probably thinks we joined RiverClan," Fireheart answered.

"I guess so; well I'll go with you and let's pray to StarClan it isn't a trap." Fireheart nodded in agreement.

The cats lounged in Princess' garden till later into the evening, before Mapefall decided to lead the group back to Raincloud's twoleg nest. Graystripe was anxious to see his kits and pushed his way through the cat-flap that would take them into the twoleg nest. When they reached Raincloud she was curled up in her basket with the kits looking content.

"Welcome back, their fine they are sleeping peacefully right now." She whispered softly. Princess leaned into the nest and purred happily when she saw Graystripe's kits.

"Their beautiful Graystripe, I'm sure they'll grow to be strong and brave like you." she purred softly. Graystripe blinked gratefully at her, then pad forward looking down at the slumbering kits. Fireheart purred happily as he watched his friend, and he began to contemplate his future.

_Fireheart blinked awake from his nest beneath the tree in his mother's garden. He looked next to him to see Graystripe still sleeping peacefully in his nest, he padded out of the den and looked around. Suddenly a familiar sweet scent reached his nose and he could see Spottedleaf sitting patiently seemingly waiting for him, beside her sat the gray and white tom from before. Fireheart watched him curiously as he padded up to the pair._

"_Greetings Fireheart, we have much to tell you, but we must wait for another." Spottedleaf spoke softly. Fireheart blinked in surprise and wondered who that other cat was they were waiting for. He wondered if that cat they were waiting for was Bluestar, he felt a twinge of sadness he missed the ThunderClan leader and wonder how the clan was fairing under Tigerstar's leadership. His eyes widened in surprise as he watched Maplefall pad up to join the three cats._

"_Maplefall, you're here?" asked Fireheart in surprise. Maplefall nodded and then glanced at the gray and white tom._

"_Cloudstar what is going on?" she asked in confusion. Cloudstar merely glanced at Spottedleaf who rose to her paws and beckoned for them to follow her, and Cloudstar padded beside her. Maplefall and Fireheart followed them as they led them into the forest, pass sunning rocks and beyond Fourtrees and across WindClan's territory, at the very edge of WindClan's territory was the start of another forest where they stopped._

"_This is the direction you must travel on your journey." Spottedleaf meowed. Fireheart looked at her._

"_Why, are we the only the only ones here?" asked Fireheart as he stared at the two starry cats._

"_Because you are the only two who believe in your quest." Spoke Cloudstar. "We must go now, but we will be with you on your journey." Fireheart looked at his mother, who said nothing she merely watched the two StarClan warriors._

"_Fireheart, things aren't always as they seem, you must trust your decisions no matter to consequences." Spottedleaf's voice echoed as she and Cloudstar vanished._

Fireheart woke with a jolt, he looked around the den. 'What did she mean?' he thought briefly. He noticed that Graystripe was already up and out of his nest. He stretched out of his own nest and padded out of the den, looking up he noticed it was after sunhigh and was surprised he had slept or so long. He looked around to find Graystripe lying next to a small pile of mice and was gulping down a plump mouse. He padded over and picked out a plump mouse for him to eat and settled down beside his friend to eat it.

"Morning Fireheart," Graystripe voiced between bites. Fireheart purred tiredly at his friend's antics and he let his mind wonder to his dream, he wondered if his mother had shared the same dream as him. He looked around the garden for her.

"Graystripe, have you seen Maplefall?" he asked

"She went off ahead, to find Jake she told me that she would meet us at Rainflower's close to dusk." He replied. Fireheart nodded in acceptance tonight was the night, the night he had to meet with Goldenflower and also the night they began their journey. Featherkit, Stormkit and Willowkit were strong enough and big enough for the travel and seemed to have endless energy. He could see that Graystripe was anxious to see his kits. The two quickly finished their meal and headed off toward Raincloud's twoleg nest.

It wasn't long before the two were in Raincloud's. The SkyClan queen was in the garden watching the kits as they chased Cloudpaw around the garden. Upon seeing Fireheart and Graystripe, the kits raced toward the two warriors. Featherkit and Stormkit pounced on their father, who playfully fell on his side as I he couldn't hold their weight. Willowkit padded up to Fireheart looking up at him curiously.

"Hi Fireheart, will you play with us? We were going to drive ShadowClan out of our camp." She meowed softly, pointing her tail at Cloudpaw, who yelped after Stormkit pounced on his back. Fireheart purred softly at her.

"Yes I'll play but first I'll need to speak to your mother." He meowed softly. Her eyes brightened and she turned to join her adopted siblings in attacking Cloudpaw. Fireheart watched them in amusement. He Graystripe, Raincloud, Maplefall and Cloudpaw had been doing their best to teach the kits about being warriors and the warrior code as well as camp life. Raincloud had started to let the kits sleep in the garden. She made a nursery in the bushes found in her garden; and the kits enjoyed sleeping outside of the twoleg nest and liked whenever Cloudpaw or Graystripe demonstrated hunting crouches or when Fireheart and Cloudpaw practiced battle techniques. The kits were more than ready for the adventure. Fireheart was still worried whether or not Princess or Jake would come. Princess had come by every other day to help Raincloud with the kits and had even slept outside in the nursery with them a few nights and she tried fresh-kill, but she never mentioned if she had decided to join them on their journey. Jake had dropped by a few times but hadn't said if he wished to come on their journey. The ginger tom hadn't been eager to leave, he briefly wondered if his mother would be able to convince him to join them. Fireheart was shaken from his thoughts by Raincloud who had come up to sit beside him.

"Greetings Raincloud, I trust you are well?" He asked fixing his deep emerald gaze on her light blue eyes.

"Yes Fireheart, I'm well. Are you prepared for tonight?" she asked softly.

"I am, we'll have to move quickly and cross through the forest through different territories and try not to let our scent linger for long in the forest." Fireheart meowed as he recalled his dream. Raincloud nodded in understanding.

"Yes, I'm sure we will, but are you ready for your meeting?" Raincloud asked giving him a questioning look. Fireheart blinked slowly in shock. He had almost forgotten that the night they planned to leave was also the night he would be meeting Goldenflower, he had told everyone about Goldenflower asking to meet with him. Princess and Raincloud weren't certain if he should meet with her or not. Cloudpaw was completely against him meeting her, mainly because she was Tigerstar's mate, and Graystripe along with Maplefall supported his decision, arguing that the queen had raised Graystripe's kits and took care of them well in his absence. Fireheart had decided to go alone, because if it was a trap there was no since in losing two strong warriors on the journey.

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be, "he responded gravely, she looked worriedly at him.

"StarClan will watch over you, you will not be alone." She meowed softly. Fireheart purred at her, shaking the foreboding thoughts away, he dropped carefully into a hunting crouch and pounced trapping a squealing Willowkit between his forelegs. The she-kit wiggled free and leaped for his tail trying to grasp it between her jaws. Fireheart yelped twisting around to gently nudge the kit away from his tail. He felt some weight on his back and tiny teeth in his scruff and twisted to find Featherkit on his back. Raincloud watched on in amusement.

It was growing closer to dusk, when a tabby and white she-cat appeared at Raincloud's garden. Fireheart thought it had been Maplefall but was surprised to see it was Princess. She carried small bundles of herbs Fireheart was sure he had seen before, but couldn't remember the name for them. Princess placed them in front of Raincloud who thanked her, before eating the leaves as quickly as possible. Princess brought a few more and set them before Graystripe, Cloudpaw and Fireheart. Graystripe sniffed at them, before his eyes widened in surprise.

"These smell like traveling herbs," he meowed in shock. Fireheart looked questioningly at his sister.

"Did you make these?" Fireheart asked in surprise.

"Not exactly, I had a dream that I needed to find these herbs, but the herbs I needed to gather were in the forest, but I found them all in a pile close to the edge of the forest. Then a very pretty tortoiseshell came and told me how to make them into these little bundles and she told me to give them to you all." Princess answered. 'Was it Spottedleaf? But if so where did she get all the herbs and why Princess?' Fireheart thought in surprise looking at his sister. Fireheart padded up to Princess and asked her quietly.

"These dreams, how long have you had them?" he asked softly.

"It started a few days after you brought Featherkit and Stormkit to Raincloud. I figured they were just dreams, but they just kept happening. I found these other herbs that I was told to feed to Raincloud and they helped keep her milk up." Princess meowed softly. "Why have I done something wrong?" Fireheart shook his head, but before he could reassure her another voice beat him to it.

"No little sparrow, you've done nothing wrong, everyone is surprised because you've done something only medicine cats can do." Meowed Maplefall as she leaped down from a part of the fence she had been watching them from. She padded up to her kits looking fondly at Princess, who looked at her mother in confusion.

"A medicine cat, you mean other warriors don't do what I did?" she asked softly. Maplefall nodded.

"Yes, a medicine cat takes care of any injuries or illness the clan may have. They are very important to the clan. I believe that our ancestors have gifted you with the skill of a medicine cat." She meowed gently. "But I stand firmly by what I said earlier if you wish to stay, I support you." Princess looked worriedly at her.

"How important are medicine cats?" she asked

"Important enough that their presence could decide whether a warrior lives or dies." Maplefall meowed. "They are protected by the clan and the code, they cannot be harmed. Your presence on this journey can mean the difference between life and death for us." Princess' eyes widen in shock and worry. Fireheart padded up beside her an touched his nose to her flank.

"Remember it's your decision, you don't have a responsibility to us, you should decide what is best for you." he murmured softly. Princess nodded taking in his words as she looked around at everyone present. She turned and padded up to the three bundles of traveling herbs that she had left. She leaned down and snapped up the herbs swallowing them quickly.

"I'll go," she meowed quietly with both fear and determination shining in her gaze. Cloudpaw yowled in happiness and raced over to his mother's side purring loudly.

"Don't worry Princess, I'll protect you no matter what." He meowed firmly brushing his pelt against his mother's. Princess purred softly licking her son's ears. Maplefall said nothing but her eyes shined brightly. Princess picked up another bundle of traveling herbs and gave them to Maplefall who quickly gulped them down. Fireheart couldn't help but noticed that despite Princess still being a little plump for a Clan cat, she looked very much like medicine cat. Fireheart also noticed there was one cat missing.

"Maplefall where is Jake?" he meowed at his mother. Maplefall sighed softly.

"I'm afraid I couldn't find him, but I told him the other night we were leaving tonight." She meowed.

"What should we do with his traveling herbs?" Graystripe asked curiously. "Should we leave them here?"

"I think I should take them with me, I should memorize them so I can find them on our journey." Princess answered. Maplefall nodded.

"I think that is sensible, if we do run into Jake we will give it to him if he wishes to come." She meowed softly. "Are we ready to leave then?" Graystripe and Raincloud nodded, each with a kit in their jaws, Cloudpaw came over and picked up Stormkit. Princess picked up the last bundle of traveling herbs and Fireheart merely held her gaze as he gave her a nod and she nodded in return.

"Very well then, SkyClan lets go."

**A/N: Okay once more sorry I haven't updated in a while hope you've enjoyed this chapter.**

**Princess is coming along; I would have felt bad if I left her behind.**

** The idea of making her a medicine cat, came partially from Leafpool and Echosong. Her situation is like Echosong's, if you don't know who Echosong is then I'll just say that she was a kittypet who received dreams from StarClan and became the modern day SkyClan's medicine cat , she had no SkyClan blood. Leafpool's physical description always reminds me of Princess since their both brown tabby she cats with white paws, with the exception that Princess has a white distinctive chest. This is the reason why I chose to make her a medicine cat, and I didn't like the idea of her being a queen and being a warrior just didn't suit her for this story in my opinion.**

**No, Princess didn't gather the herbs that she used to make the traveling herbs, will find out what happen in the next chapter.**

**Goldenflower's meeting will take place in the next chapter as well, a few surprises happen.**


	4. Chapter 4

New Chapter sorry it took so long, my life has been crazy lately and getting more and more complicated so onward with the chapter.

Chapter 4

Maplefall led the small group, through the twolegplace, being mindful to set a pace that didn't harm the kits they were carrying. They had reached the forest by dusk, and were staring into the trees and the thick undergrowth ahead of them. The kit's eyes widened with awe since it was the first time they had ever seen the forest, and they squirmed a little in excitement. Fireheart looked into Maplefall's eyes and she gave him a gentle nodded as a sign for him to lead them through the forest. Fireheart looked back at the other cats present in their group and meowed a warning.

"We are entering, ThunderClan's territory, we need to be careful, and stay quiet. It's still dusk and there is no telling whether or not the dusk patrol has already patrolled here, we need to avoid a confrontation if we can." Fireheart gave a stern look Cloudpaw, as he mentioned the last part. "We have to remember we're carrying the kits." Cloudpaw nodded gently in understanding, being careful not to jostle Stormkit too much. Fireheart gave Princess a reassuring look, and then led the group silently into the forest, stretching his senses as far as they could reach, Princess and Cloudpaw were directly behind them, with Graystripe and Raincloud following close behind, Maplefall brought up the rear, her ears twitching in every direction to try and listen for any sign of a ThuderClan patrol.

Fireheart set a brisk pace for, the RiverClan-ThunderClan border, hoping that the border would help disguise their scent. He was grateful for the kits' silence as they traveled. He figured the seriousness of the others was keeping them from speaking out.

As they neared the border, Maplefall, quickened her pace so that she was beside, Fireheart and meowed quietly in his ear.

"I think I scented a patrol, it seems as though their headed in this direction, we have the wind in our favor, they are downwind of us, we need to increase our pace." She meowed quickly. Fireheart meowed quickly for her to tell the others as he quickened the pace. Fireheart could see the willow trees up ahead that marked the start of RiverClan territory. Fireheart debated whether or not they should cross into RiverClan territory to avoid the ThunderClan patrol, but he soon realized they would have to, if they wanted to get the kits safely through the forest. Without stopping or slowing his pace he padded straight through the willow trees, only to realize that ThunderClan's scent was strong among the willow trees, meaning ThunderClan must have won the territory from RiverClan during their absence from the Clan.

He looked ahead and saw the stepping stones that would carry them to the other side of the river. He headed toward them but realized with a jolt that they wouldn't make it across without being seen, by the patrol. He looked back and saw his mother leap into a tree, Raincloud veered behind a thick bramble bush, Graystripe and Cloudpaw followed her. Princess ran back to climb up the tree that Maplefall, had disappeared into. Fireheart turned around and climbed a tree right across from the tree that Princess and Maplefall were in and waited for the patrol to come their way.

Fireheart could just make out the voices of some of the approaching warriors. They were talking softly to one another before they began to move away from the spot the group was hiding. Fireheart sighed in relief and began to climb down when he heard the footsteps of one of the cats from the patrol coming straight toward the trees that they were hiding in.

"Fireheart, Graystripe is that you?" a familiar voice called out. Fireheart looked and saw the familiar white pelt of Whitestorm pushing through the undergrowth. "It's okay their heading back to camp." Fireheart almost didn't jump down but, remembered that Maplefall, Graystripe and Raincloud were close enough to help him if this turned out to be an ambush. He leaped down watching Whitestorm cautiously.

"Whitestorm, we mean no trouble, we're just passing through ThunderClan territory." Fireheart explain quickly.

"We?" Whitestorm asked as he looked at Fireheart curiously. Fireheart explained that his kin and friends were on a journey and that they had to cross through ThunderClan territory to get to the place they needed to go. As he explained, Maplefall and Princess leaped out of the tree and Graystripe, Raincloud and Cloudpaw emerged behind the bramble bush, they had been hiding behind, with the kits in tow. Whitestorm was surprised to see so many unfamiliar faces with Fireheart but was glad to see Graystripe and Cloudpaw.

"We mean you no trouble, we only want to get through your territory unharmed, and we haven't been hunting only traveling through." Maplefall meowed calmly, standing beside Fireheart. "Will you grant us safe passage?" Whitestorm looked at every cat present, before turning his attention back to Maplefall.

"I'll admit I was only expecting, Fireheart, Graystripe, Cloudpaw and the possibility of Graystripe's kits when I came over here," Maplefall seemed to tense a little as Whitestorm spoke softly, "However, if your only passing through, then I think I'll escort you to Fourtrees but if your found here in the morning I cannot help you."Fireheart stared at Whitestorm in shock, as the tom beckoned them to follow him through the forest. Fireheart padded up beside the white warrior.

"We're grateful to you Whitestorm but, why are you helping us?" he asked softly, Whitestorm watched him out of the corner of his eye.

"Because I think what happened with you, Graystripe and Cloudpaw was unfair and if Tigerstar hadn't banished you three you'd have every right to be here, just as I do." Whitestorm meowed gently. "And I feel that Bluestar would have wanted me to let you go." Fireheart felt a pang of sadness at the thought of his former leader and mentor; he wondered what she would think of all that had happened to them and the Clan and for the first time he wondered if he was doing the right thing. His thoughts were plagued with the journey ahead of them, as he followed Whitestorm to Fourtrees.

As they reached Fourtrees, Fireheart noticed that it was drawing closer to the time he was to meet with Goldenflower. He looked around him to see if he could make out any pale ginger cats lurking in the forest. He figured it would probably wouldn't be much longer till the pale ginger queen made her appearance, and he wonder if Whitestorm knew anything about it, but he figured that if Whitestorm knew he would have said something. He shook the thoughts away as he glanced down at the familiar slope that lead down to where they held the gathering.

"I think this is far enough, I'm sure you and Graystripe can lead them the rest of the way, I must return to camp."Whitestorm meowed.

"Wait how can we trust you not to tell anyone you saw us?" Maplefall asked narrowing her eyes in suspicion. Whitestorm watched her carefully.

"You have my word as a warrior of ThunderClan, I promise not to tell anyone I saw you this night, however if you are caught within our territory in the morning then there is not much I can do to help you." Whitestorm answered calmly, Maplefall regarded him closely and gave him a nod.

"I will hold you to your word," she meowed simply.

"Take care, may StarClan be with you." He called as he headed back to toward the ThunderClan camp.

"And you as well," Fireheart called after him as he watched him go. Raincloud looked on in worry, Graystripe seemed relieved that Whitestorm was on their side and had helped them. It made Fireheart have hope that maybe Goldenflower wasn't trying to set him up, that she legitimately has something of importance to tell him.

"Are you sure he can be trusted?" Maplefall asked quietly. Fireheart looked at her in surprise.

"He gave you his word as a warrior of ThunderClan." Maplefall sniffed a little.

"I don't rely on the word of any warrior other than warriors of SkyClan; we have little reason to." Maplefall replied as she looked down the slope that would lead them into Fourtrees. She signaled with her tail for the others to follow her down the slope into Fourtrees. Maplefall gave a soft look as she looked up at the Great Rock, the kits squealed in excitement as they looked around Fourtrees, the raced over to one of the great oaks and proceeded to play a game of hide and seek using the large tree roots to hid behind, but it didn't last long when Raincloud called them to her . Princess seemed a little nervous as she looked around as if expecting a ThunderClan patrol to appear and attack them, Cloudpaw must have noticed as well since he brushed his pelt up against her's and purred words of encouragement to her. Fireheart noticed that Graystripe had adopted a pensive look on his face and Fireheart wondered if he was having second thoughts about going on this journey, and decided to speak with his friend before they headed off to the spot they planned on meeting Fireheart after he met with Goldenflower. Graystripe looked up at Fireheart as he approached.

"Are you alright Graystripe?" Fireheart asked

"Yes, it's just I've been thinking about Ravenpaw and I think we should warn him that Tigerstar's leader now," Fireheart blinked slowly at Graystripe as he listened to his friend.

"He may already know about it, remember his and Barley's farm are on the way to Highstones." Graystripe shook his head slowly.

"Just because it's on the way to Highstones doesn't mean, Tigerstar went near the farm; remember the last time with the rats." Graystripe pointed out and Fireheart began to think about what Graystripe had said and realized he was right. Ravenpaw and Barley's farm was pretty big and the two cats could easily have been out of the sight of Tigerstar and him out of their sight. It would be bad if Tigerstar went to Highstones for some reason and accidently bumped into Ravenpaw who was just trying to peacefully enjoy life as a loner.

"Okay, but can we make it there tonight? And will they let us stay the night there?" Fireheart wondered.

"If they know the situation I'm sure they would and you know Ravenpaw would do whatever he can to help us out if we need it." Graystripe meowed confidently. Fireheart beckoned for Maplefall to join them and the others as well. They explained the situation with Ravenpaw and how they wanted to go check on their friend and make sure he was aware of Tigerstar and mentioning that he was close to the Highstones where the Moonstone was kept. Princess seemed very interested in going when she heard Highstones being mentioned.

"I think I need to go there, I think there is something there that I'm supposed to know" She meowed. Raincloud agreed knowing it would be a safe place for the kits to sleep for the night. Maplefall wasn't too keen on the idea of going, but knowing that the others wished to go left her no choice.

"Very well will go, do either of you know the way?" Maplefall asked, and Graystripe stepped forward.

"I know how to get there and Fireheart knows also so he'll know where to look for us when he's finished here." Graystripe assured her as he nuzzled his kits. He padded up to Fireheart and wished him luck, Cloudpaw offered to stay and help him, but Fireheart declined reminding him that he was needed to protect the kits. Raincloud wished him well and told him that their ancestor's would watch over him and keep him safe. Maplefall gave his son a gentle lick on his ear and walked over to the kits to help carry them and Princess brushed her cheek against Fireheart's telling him to be safe.

Moments later Fireheart was alone and sat patiently waiting for Goldenflower to appear. He decided to climb the oak tree that stood before WindClan's territory so he could have the advantage in case it was an ambush. His mind began to wander to a dream he had had a few days ago. In the dream he was perched quietly in a tree, the same way he had been when WindClan and ShadowClan had come to kill Brokentail, but instead of quietly climbing down the tree and staying out of sight of the approaching warriors, he leaped down fearlessly on the back of the cat closest to him and suddenly many other unrecognizable cats had leaped down from the surrounding trees and attacked the intruders. While Fireheart hadn't recognized the cats something told him they were allies. Fireheart wasn't sure what the dream meant but he blamed the dream on the battle move his mother taught him called the Sky Drop.

Suddenly Fireheart heard a noise from the ThunderClan side of the clearing. He tensed his muscles watching as a figure emerged from behind a thick juniper bush. He recognized Goldenflower's pale ginger pelt as she slowly walked further into the clearing. Fireheart tried to catch the scent of another cat, but couldn't really scent any other cats. He decided it was safe enough and jumped down making himself known to Goldenflower. She jumped in surprise not expecting him to leap down from one of the great oaks.

"Fireheart you startled me" she breathed fixing her gaze on Fireheart's.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you Goldenflower." Fireheart replied watching her curiously. "May I asked why the mate of the cat who banished my friend, my kin and I from ThunderClan, wishes to speak with me here?" He noticed Goldenflower's eyes hardening when he had mention her being the mate of Tigerstar and his curiosity grew even more.

"He's not my mate any longer," she spat with such fury, that Fireheart flinched and began to watch her warily. He wondered briefly what Tigerstar had done to anger the usually kind queen.

"You're not, but why I thought you liked him?" Fireheart asked carefully hoping the queen wouldn't lash out at him in anger for asking a simple question.

"Because of Stormkit and Featherkit," Fireheart stared at her in more confusion.

"Stormkit and Featherkit caused you to no longer be mates?" Fireheart questioned, and Goldenflower nodded in confirmation. "But why I don't understand."

"It happened just after Tigerstar banished you three, I had decided I wanted to take a walk and Speckletail was watching the kits. I hadn't gone too far from the camp when I heard voices talking nearby. I quietly moved closer to where I heard the voices and I saw it was Tigerstar speaking with Darkstripe. At first I had thought they were just having a meeting about Darkstripe's duties, but that made no sense since they could just talk in the leader's den, but I figured they didn't want anyone bothering them I was just about to leave when I heard him mention Graystripe's kits and so I listened closer. Darkstripe asked Tigerstar if he was going to give them to RiverClan and Tigerstar told him no. I thought this meant that he finally was accepting the kits but I was wrong." She shook her head sadly. "He told Darkstripe that he didn't want those 'filthy halfclan kits' near his own kits but that he would tolerate them a bit longer so that when they were old enough he would make sure they disappeared before they became apprenticed." Fireheart stared at her in horror.

"But why did he let Graystripe and I take the kits if he wasn't giving them to RiverClan?" Fireheart asked feeling better that they had gotten the kits when they did.

"He told Darkstripe they didn't fit in his plans, I don't know what those plans he had were but there is nothing good about them if it involved killing kits. I think Tigerstar is convinced you aren't living in any of the Clans and that was why he let you take the kits."

"I suppose so, but why are you here Goldenflower? Graystripe's kits are safe already and I doubt Tigerstar will go looking for them." Fireheart pointed out.

"Yes I know they're safe and that's why I'm here." She turned around and gave a low meow calling for someone in the forest. Fireheart tensed again as he watched the juniper bush shake and three figures emerged from the bushes, he recognized the cats immediately.

"Yellowfang what are you doing here?" Fireheart meowed in shock as the old ragged medicine cat came to sit near Goldenflower.

"Oh I'm fine Fireheart thanks for asking." She rasped sarcastically with a hint of amusement in her stare. "If you must know I saw Goldenflower sneaking out of camp throught that hole behind the nursery, I followed her and confronted her about what she was doing, when she told me I just had to come and see you."Fireheart shook his head clear of all the questions that plagued his mind, which seemed to overwhelm him when he saw the familiar faces of Goldenflower's kits: Bramblekit and Tawnykit. Fireheart looked to Goldenflower for an explanation.

"After I discovered Tigerstar's plan for Graystripe's kits I couldn't stand to be with Tigerstar any longer and I decided that I would figure out a way to get the kits to RiverClan if I had to, but then you and Graystripe appeared and asked for the kits back and when Tigerstar actually let them go I was relieved, but as I was bringing them to you I realized I couldn't let my kits be around a cat that would kill helpless kits simply because of who their parents were, even if he is their father. Even if it meant I had to give them up" She murmured softly licking the ears of each of her kits gently. "Fireheart will you take my kits with you? I just can't keep them in ThunderClan not while Tigerstar is there. The way he talked about this plan of his sounded as if he had planned to be made the leader soon, almost as if he knew Bluestar was going to die and if he was involved with Bluestar's death then I really don't want my kits near him." Fireheart looked on in disbelief that Goldenflower was here with the sole purpose of giving him her kits and that Goldenflower seemed to have learned that Tigerstar might have planned Bluestar's death. He was very surprised to know that Goldenflower was planning on giving him her kits. 'If Goldenflower believed they lived in the Twolegplace then that would mean…' Fireheart's eyes widened in surprise

"Wait Goldenflower, you want your kits to be kittypets?" Fireheart asked

"If that's what it takes yes, I refuse to keep them in ThunderClan." She meowed roughly wrapping her tail around her kits gathering them around her. Fireheart thought for a moment about the situation.

"What about you Goldenflower, what will you do?"

"I will stay in ThunderClan, no other clan would accept me and I couldn't be a kittypet, I would miss the outdoors, but the kits have a chance they could find happiness it isn't too late for them."

"What if I said that I was actually going on a journey, with my kin and a few friends?" when Goldenflower looked at him questioningly he began to explain all about what he had learned during his time in the Twolegplace and about the journey they were traveling on, he even mentioned the traveling herbs and how they believe that Princess might be a medicine cat.

"That's what happened to those herbs." Fireheart turned with alarm to face Yellowfang, he had forgotten she was there.

"What do you mean?" Fireheart was certain he knew what herbs she was referring to but he wasn't sure.

"Yesterday Cinderpaw , came to me about a list of herbs she had dreamed about. I noticed that all the herbs she listed are used to make traveling herbs, she told me she dreamt of all these herbs growing in a spot near the twolegplace, she went to the spot but didn't see them anywhere, so she guessed that it might have been a sign of StarClan of some kind, so she gathered all the herbs and left them in the spot believing that StarClan was going to use the herbs to give her a sign, she waited a while but figured that whatever StarClan was asking of her they would tell her when the time was right, this morning she went and looked at the pile and all of the herbs were gone." Yellowfang explained, and Fireheart knew that his earlier assumption was right, and that Cinderpaw had been the one to give Princess the herbs she needed to make the traveling herbs.

"Maplefall didn't tell me Princess was a medicine cat, I might have come sooner if I had known," a voice spoke up from a nearby bush. Goldenflower jumped in alarm, pushing her kits behind her, and Yellowfang jumped to her side. Fireheart tensed ready to spring at the cat who had spoken, but the voice sounded familiar to him. A heartbeat later, a large ginger tom emerged from behind one of the great oak trees; Fireheart relaxed quickly at seeing the familiar face of Jake and was glad he had caught up with them. Goldenflower and Yellowfang relaxed a little but were still ready to attack the strange tom, should he turn aggressive.

"It's okay, this is Jake he was a SkyClan warrior, and he is my father. He won't hurt the kits." Fireheart meowed soothingly to the two she-cats. This calmed the two down and they meowed their greetings to Jake who returned them. Goldenflower turned her attention back to Fireheart.

"Are you asking me to join you in your search for SkyClan?"

"Yes, you've made it clear that you don't trust Tigerstar and that you don't want to stay in ThunderClan anymore, but you have nowhere else to go and its clear you don't want to be separated from your kits you could come with us." Fireheart assured her as he could see a little skeptism in her eyes, but he could also see a need to be with her kits. Goldenflower looked to Yellowfang who gave her a gentle nod.

"I'll go, I'll help out with whatever is needed, as long as my kits are cared for." Goldenflower decided wrapping her tail around her kits. Jake nodded in acceptance; Yellowfang watched it all in silence.

"We better get a move on if we want to catch up with the others." Jake meowed Fireheart agreed with him and he walked up to Yellowfang, and brushed his pelt against her flank purring softly.

"Goodbye Yellowfang, I'll miss you, take care of Cinderpaw and tell Whitestorm thank you when you see him, he'll know why." Fireheart murmured in the old she-cat's ear. Her throat rumbled with a deep raspy purr.

"I'll miss you too, Fireheart take care of everyone on that journey, I would teach you some herb remedies to help you on your journey, but I'm sure your sister can figure that out, take care of the kits." She rasped gently. Fireheart let Yellowfang speak quietly with Goldenflower for a moment, and he saw Jake looking at Goldenflower's kits. Fireheart drew his attention to the two kits still wrapped in her tail. The dark tabby tom caught his gaze and for a moment he felt like Tigerstar was staring at him as he looked at Bramblekit. Fireheart wonder what the young tom thought of Tigerstar and also wondered if Tigerstar had already begun influencing his kits into his way of thinking. Fireheart shook these thoughts from his mind and looked at Jake with a questioning look on his face.

"I think I've met the father of this those kits or rather the father of their father, if it's the same Tigerstar." Jake murmured to Fireheart, before he could answer, Goldenflower had flashed a sign that she was ready to go, and she picked up Tawnykit in her mouth, Jake gave a reassuring look to Goldenflower and picked up Bramblekit picked up Bramblekit looking to Fireheart to lead them.

"I'll be heading back now, I'll try and make sure to throw off your trail." Yellowfang told them as she headed back toward the ThunderClan camp.

"Thank you Yellowfang and tell Whitestorm thank you as well." Fireheart called after her.

"May StarClan guide your path" She meowed back

"And yours as well," Fireheart answered. He turned to look at Goldenflower and Jake and headed up the WindClan slope that would take them to WindClan territory.

(Okay their heading for Ravenpaw and Barley's farm, in the next chapter and more secrets are revealed.

Review and let me know what you think.)


	5. Chapter 5

HELLO FOLKS I'm BAAAAAAAAACKKKKKKKK!

Yep new chapter, and let me just say. NO SANDSTORM ISN'T IN IT. You'll just have to wait and see what happens with her.

Chapter 5

Fireheart led Jake and Goldenflower quickly through, WindClan's vast open territory, heading for Ravenpaw and Barley's barn. Fireheart couldn't help but keep glancing up at the sky, because the moon was nearly full it made it easier to navigate through WindClan's territory in the dark. Fireheart could hardly believe all that had happened, from being banished from ThunderClan, to discovering his Clan roots and finally the journey that loomed ahead of them, it all seemed like a dream to him, he couldn't believe that it all had happened not too long ago.

They had soon reached Barley and Ravenpaw's barn, Fireheart looked around for the dogs that were set loose at night in the field. He didn't see or smell them at the moment, and motioned for Goldenflower and Jake to follow closely. A feeling of urgency filled him as he crossed the field to get to the barn. He thought he saw one of the dogs in the distance and picked up his pace, Goldenflower and Jake were on his heels, trying not to jostle the kits they were carrying too much as they made their way to the barn. Fireheart stiffened when he heard a howl in the distance and almost broke into a run, but kept calm and strained his senses for any sign the dogs were getting closer. He breathed a sigh of relief when they made it to the barn without incident.

As they entered the barn, Fireheart looked around for any sign of the others. Suddenly a black form leaped in front of him nearly making him leap into the air in shock before he realized it was Ravenpaw. He purred in delight at seeing his friend and heard him do the same, he quickly stepped forward to greet him.

"Fireheart, it's good to see you've made it here safely," Ravenpaw purred, softly flicked his tail to Fireheart's shoulder. "Graystripe told me everything. I'm sorry to hear that Bluestar is gone."

"We all are," Fireheart replied, as he looked around and sighed. "Did the others make it here ok?" Ravenpaw nodded.

"They did, your mother and sister left for highstones though." Ravenpaw told him. Fireheart stared in shock at him, he glanced around the barn and realized he didn't see either of them.

"Do you know why?" he asked slightly worried for them. "They don't know the way." Ravenpaw shook his head.

"No, I figured it had to do with the Clans," Ravenpaw noticed his friends worry and gently placed his tail on his friends shoulder. "Don't worry, they took Graystripe with them." Fireheart breathed a sigh of relief, feeling better knowing that Graystripe had gone with them but still wondering why they needed to go to Highstones. He heard a grumble behind him and twitched his ears in embarrassment feeling bad that he had forgotten about his father, Goldenflower and her kits.

"Ravenpaw is there somewhere warm that we can keep Goldenflower and her kits?" he said beckoning to the pale ginger queen and her kits. Ravenpaw looked nervous to see Goldenflower, who in return looked shocked to see that he was alive. "It's okay Goldenflower can be trusted." Fireheart murmured softly.

"Of course, I'll show you where Raincloud is nesting with her kits." Ravenpaw told him, "Um…who is this?" he asked nervously looking at Jake. Fireheart purred softly.

"This is my father, Jake" Fireheart explained flicking his tail in his father's direction. "He used to be a SkyClan warrior like my mother." Ravenpaw nodded and dipped his head to the tom in greeting.

"I'll take you all to Raincloud and her kits," he turned and quickly led them into the barn. Which was full of haystacks. Barley was perched on top of one and greeted Fireheart kindly. Fireheart greeted the older tom just as gently. Fireheart saw Raincloud curled up in a nest of hay, watching the kits play together. She rose from her spot in the hay and bounded forward to touch her nose gently to Fireheart's,

"You're okay, I'm glad." purred Raincloud as she pressed her cheek to Fireheart's, though she became wary at the presence of Goldenflower, but after she caught sight of Tawnykit and Bramblekit her gaze softened. Featherkit, Stormkit and Willowkit looked excitedly at the new arrivals.

"Fireheart your back, "purred Featherkit, as she and Willowkit bounded up to the fiery warrior and brushed their fur against his. "Who are they?" Fireheart purred in response.

"You probably don't remember them but this is Goldenflower and her kits, Tawnykit and Bramblekit." Fireheart explained gently. Watching as Jake and Goldenflower placed Bramblekit and Tawnykit on the ground.

"Goldenflower took care of you, for a short while; after your mother, Silverstream, died. Before Raincloud started caring for you and Stormkit." Featherkit and Stormkit looked wide eyed in awe, at the golden queen, who gave each of them warm looks of affection. Bramblekit and Tawnykit bounded forward to get a good look at the three other kits. Cloudpaw padded up to the group and gave Goldenflower a cold stare.

"Why is she here?" he growled, Fireheart glared at Cloudpaw a moment before answering.

"Because she doesn't trust Tigerstar as much as we don't." Fireheart explained, pausing to glance warily at the kits. "Maybe the kits should go play? The five kits squealed in excitement and looked around for a nice place to play.

"Over here young'uns" called Barley as he leaped over to a haystack, in a corner of the barn. As the kits took off after him, he gave a nod of acknowledgement to Fireheart as he gather the kits together. Goldenflower watched them go with a look of worry, but Fireheart blinked reassuringly at her. Quietly telling her that Barley was trustworthy. Once the kits were out of ear shot, Fireheart retold all of what Goldenflower had told them. Raincloud hissed loudly in anger.

"How dare he?" she snarled, her fur was ruffled and her tail swiped quickly back and forth angrily. "Those kits are innocent they shouldn't be faulted for their parents actions." Fireheart sat down beside her, giving her a gentle lick between the ears.

"Their safe now, and we'll make sure they stay that way." He promised her. Raincloud let her body relax, but Fireheart could still see the fire, burning in her blue eyes. She turned and looked at Goldenflower and gave her a nod of respect.

"You were brave for wanting to come." Raincloud meowed softly, to her "I could use the extra paws helping to look after the kits." Goldenflower nodded looking fondly over in the direction the kits took off.

'Thank you, for accepting them." She replied "And me, I couldn't bear to leave them in ThunderClan and I certainly didn't want to go back." She looked over at Ravenpaw, with curiosity in her gaze.

"Ravenpaw, why did you leave?" Goldenflower asked curiously. 'ThunderClan has missed you, we thought you were dead."

"Tigerstar," Ravenpaw trembled a little, "He's done nothing but terrorize me, and he was trying to kill me." Goldenflower looked horrified and rushed to his side.

"Why?" she breathed. "What threat were you to him?"

"I don't want to talk to about it," Ravenpaw meowed nervously glancing at Fireheart, the fiery warrior blinked understandingly at him. Goldenflower leaned over Ravenpaw licking his ears gently.

"I won't pry, if Tigerstar's responsible then I understand." Goldenflower murmured. "He isn't the cat I thought he was."

"So Goldenflower coming with us now?" asked Cloudpaw, glancing at the golden queen. Goldenflower nodded. "Jake, you too?" Fireheart looked questioningly at his father. Jake nodded slowly.

"You are all going to need all the help you can get." Jake meowed softly, "And I feel up for another adventure." Fireheart glanced curiously at Jake. 'Another journey?' Fireheart wondered to himself. He shook his thoughts clear and focused on the main question that was nagging him.

"Raincloud? Why did Princess, Maplefall and Graystripe head to Highstones?" Raincloud sighed softly.

"Princess was insistent that something was waiting for her at Highstones," Raincloud explained softly to him, "She said it had to do with the dreams she was having. Maplefall wanted to go with her and Graystripe told us he would take them there."

"But, why now of all times?" Fireheart questioned quietly. Ravenpaw who had been listening to them talk spoke up suddenly.

"None of you planned to stay long right?" Ravenpaw pointed out. "Maybe this was Princess' last chance to figure out for sure if she was doing the right thing."

"But Princess agreed to come," Cloudpaw butted in to the conversation, "Why change her mind now?"

"It still isn't too late for her to go home." Jake brought up, "And also Princess may be able to help guide us on her journey." Fireheart thought back to his dream, he was told that he and Maplefall were the only ones who truly believed in their journey and that they would be able to find their way to SkyClan. He wondered if StarClan would tell Princess that. His thoughts were interrupted by his stomach rumbling. He realized that he hadn't eaten anything but the travel herbs earlier before they started their journey.

"Is anyone hungry?" Fireheart asked aloud looking at Raincloud, Cloudpaw , Goldenflower and Jake. "We haven't eaten since we left." In answer to his question he heard Cloudpaw's stomach grumble loudly. Ravenpaw purred softly.

"There's plenty of mice in the barn, their plump and easy to catch." Ravenpaw told them, "Feel free to catch as many as you like, don't touch the chickens though."

"Okay that's fine, I'll go catch some mice." Fireheart meowed. Raincloud stood up,

"I will too," Raincloud meowed, "I want to stretch my legs and hunt some."

"I'll go help look after the kits." Meowed Goldenflower as she headed off in the direction Barley took the kits.

"I'll hunt too," meowed Jake, "The kits still need to be fed." Jake got to his paws and started searching for some prey. Raincloud stalked off quietly behind a nearby barrel of hay.

Fireheart could taste the warm scent of mouse in the air. He swerved his ears listening carefully for the little skitter of feet on the floor of the barn. He crept forward silently, keeping his pawsteps soft. He leaped forward and bit into the neck of the plump mouse. He carried the mouse over to the area where the kits where. Raincloud was there, dropping of the fresh plump mouse she had just caught. Jake and Cloudpaw came too, each with a mouse. They started forming a small fresh-kill pile. And set off catching more mice. They soon had a decent sized pile of fresh-kill. Goldenflower made sure the kits were fed and Jake and Cloudpaw took some prey for themselves. Raincloud pulled out a squirrel that Ravenpaw had caught and brought to them and padded up to Fireheart.

"Would you like to share this with me?" asked the young queen. Fireheart nodded and settled down beside her and tore into the warm flesh of the squirrel. They ate quickly and silently together. As Fireheart finished off his last scrap of flesh, he felt Raincloud's muzzle brush gently against his own, as he licked the last of the prey off his muzzle. He and Raincloud began sharing tongues with each other. Fireheart felt the last few hours melt away under the rasping of Raincloud's warm tongue. Raincloud had become a good friend to Fireheart during his time away from ThunderClan. He learned a lot about her, she had just become a warrior the day before she was taken by the twolegs. She wasn't much older than Graystripe or himself. Her mate had been a rogue she had met, while living as a kittypet, he was killed tragically and she was left to raise Willowkit alone. Fireheart had grown close to the pretty silver tabby and always welcomed her company. As he rasped his tongue through Raincloud's soft silver coat, Willowkit bounded up to him and Raincloud snuggling in between the two of them.

"Willowkit, what are you doing?" Fireheart asked in amusement. Willowkit looked up at him with big wide blue eyes.

"Nothing," she squeaked out, "I wanted to lie here with the both of you." Raincloud purred and licked her daughter's ears. Fireheart nuzzled the little kit, glancing over at the other kits in the group. Willowkit was the only one without littermate to play with. A while ago, both Raincloud and Graystripe had explained to the kits that, Stormkit and Featherkit were Graystripe's kits and not Raincloud's and that Willowkit was not Grasystripe's daughter. The kits had seemed to understand and Willowkit seemed to be okay with it but still…Fireheart looked down at Willowkit who seemed to have fallen asleep. Fireheart knew she loved Featherkit and Stormkit, but she also knew that she occasionally felt left out because of the games the two would play with Graystripe. Graystripe had told Willowkit he would try to be a father figure to her. Fireheart was sure it was unintentional but he saw that his friend had a bad habit of focusing on only his kits and leaving Willowkit out of the games he played with his kits. Whenever this happened Fireheart had chosen to play with Willowkit and had grown fond of the little she-kit in turn. The little she-kit had grown very fond of Fireheart as well and hung around him when Graystripe played with his kits.

Fireheart heard Goldenflower call the kits to rest, as she fixed up the nest of hay. Featherkit, Bramblekit, Stormkit and Tawnykit bounded over to the golden queen and snuggled up next to her to sleep. Fireheart wasn't surprised in the slightest to see that Goldenflower seemed content to have all four kits with her once more. He glanced over at Raincloud, who looked on at the kits as they settled down to sleep, but didn't move from her spot. Fireheart was happy to see that Raincloud trusted Goldenflower, she knew the young queen was grateful for any help with the kits and Goldenflower was an experienced queen.

"We should get some rest," Fireheart mewed softly to her, doing his best not to wake WIllowkit. "We're going to need it."

"Yes, we should, meowed Raincloud softly. "Goodnight Fireheart,"

"Goodnight Raincloud." He answered back, lowering his head onto his paws and closing his eyes.

Fireheart was awaked to the sound of Cloudpaw yowling, he was on his paws in an instant looking around for a threat, but instead of a threat he spotted three familiar figures approaching.

"Your back!" yowled Cloudpaw happily as he bounded up to Princess, he pressed his nose into her soft fur. Princess licked his ears and purred softly in greeting to her kit. Jake came out of his nest and padded up to them, Maplefall gave him a fond look as he approached.

"You came," she purred warmly, brushing her muzzle against his, she glanced behind him and spotted Goldenflower who was watching warily from her nest with the kits. Maplefall looked just as warily at Goldenflower who walked over to speak quietly to Raincloud as they watched the kits sleeping peacefully. "Who is that?"

"Goldenflower," Fireheart meowed as he padded up to his mother. "She no longer trust Tigerstar and wanted to give up her kits to be kittypets, when she heard of our journey I invited her and her kits to join us."

"Why does she know longer trust him?" asked Graystripe, he brushed his pelt against Fireheart's as he came to stand beside him.

"After we left, she overheard Tigerstar and Darkstripe discussing getting rid of your kits when they were older." Graystripe's eyes narrowed and he growled lowly. "From what she heard it sounded like they were planning to kill them." Princess' eyes widened in horror.

"Why?" she nearly wailed, "Those poor little kits never did anything to deserve that." She wrapped her tail protectively around Cloudpaw.

"Tigerstar's never liked the kits, and he's always wanted Graystripe to suffer for breaking the code." Fireheart padded over to Princess, giving her a gentle lick on her ear.

"But you were banished," Maplefall pointed out, "Why hurt you further?"

"Tigerstar's never liked any cat that wasn't ThunderClan," Fireheart explained, "He likely didn't want them their purely because they weren't fully ThunderClan."

"Then why not give them to RiverClan?" Ravenpaw asked suddenly, "Why try to kill them?"

"I don't know," Maplefall narrowed her eyes and looked once more at Goldenflower before speaking.

"She may come with us, Raincloud could use her help." Maplefall decided. "We will tell you now, what happened at Highstones." Fireheart trembled a little in excitement, he had been wondering about the trip to Highstone since Ravenpaw had brought it up. Maplefall looked to Princess and beckoned her to speak.

"I felt the need to go there," Princess began softly, "The pretty tortoiseshell I told you about, she told me I would find my destiny there." Fireheart felt his heartbeat quicken. 'Could it be?' He wondered.

"We went and I saw the moonstone, it was beautiful" she breathed with awe, "I saw StarClan."

"StarClan isn't real," meowed Cloudpaw, with a sniff, Fireheart looked on at Cloudpaw in shock, he couldn't believe his nephews words. 'He doesn't believe in StarClan? How did I miss this?' Fireheart thought with dismay. "If they were, then why is Tigerstar leader?" Princess blinked slowly at her son and sighed.

"They do not have that kind of power, they can only guide us." She explained as gently as possible. "They promised to guide me and help me learn the ways of a medicine cat." Cloudpaw rolled his eyes a little but didn't press any further.

"The tortoiseshell, what was her name?" asked Fireheart staring into his sisters eyes.

"Spottedleaf," Fireheart nodded in acceptance. 'I knew it was her.' "She gave me a warrior name. She called me Sparrowfeather." Fireheart's eyes widened in surprise. As did their mother and father.

"You didn't tell me that." Meowed Maplefall, as she pressed her nose into Princess' fur. "Then for now on you will be known as Sparrowfeather." Graystripe blinked in surprise as he looked in wonder at Sparrowfeather.

"Spottedleaf spoke to her," Fireheart heard Graystripe mutter, "Maybe there is truth to this." The gray warrior seemed to be coming to terms with their journey.

"We still need to focus on the journey, what direction are heading?" Jake spoke up suddenly, "Where do we needed to go?"

"Let's round up everyone and speak together as a group." Maplefall meowed in response. She headed over to a single haystack and leaped on top of it. Fireheart and Jake beckoned Raincloud and Goldenflower over to the group. Goldenflower blinked warmly at Graystripe in familiarity and looked nervously at Maplefall and Sparrowfeather. Fireheart watched his sister approach the golden queen, with a warm mew.

"My name is Sparrowfeather, I'm Fireheart's sister" she meowed, and flicked her tail toward Maplefall. "And that is our mother, Maplefall."

"It is nice to meet you." Goldenflower responded, looking up curiously at Maplefall. Fireheart turned his attention over to Cloudpaw. He knew the white apprentice should be resting, there was no need for him to be awake for this next conversation.

"Cloudpaw, you should go rest with the kits, you'll need your strength." He told his nephew. Cloudpaw looked indignant at Fireheart and sniffed.

"I want to hear this meeting too," he meowed in response, looking determined. Fireheart felt irritation at his nephew for not listening to him. Didn't Cloudpaw know if he didn't get enough rest the trip would be harder on him?

"There is nothing being said that you won't hear about in the morning." Meowed Fireheart, as he gave his apprentice a sharp glare. "Go to sleep." Cloudpaw stared back for a moment longer, then turned and grumbled a little as he made his way over to where the kits were, sleeping quietly in their makeshift nests, and settled down for sleep. Fireheart sighed grateful that Cloudpaw hadn't awaken the kits.

Jake, Fireheart, Graystripe, Sparrowfeather, Raincloud and Goldenflower came to sit in a semi-circle around Maplefall, who sat ridged with authority on the stack of hay. Ravenpaw sat on a haystack nearby to listen in on the meeting, Barley was out hunting rats, telling them he'd keep an eye out for the dogs. Maplefall looked around at the group for a moment then began speaking.

"Okay it's time to discuss, what we will do now." Maplefall meowed out. Fireheart stood up and addressed the group. Gathering his thoughts as he looked around at the others gathered around.

"We need to head through WindClan territory." Fireheart told them, "The way we need to go is closer to the gorge. Jake seemed to squirm a little as he spoke about WindClan, and Fireheart wondered what was making his father become so antsy.

"Yes, we must travel through their land," Maplefall agreed, a strange look in her amber eye. "Should we wait to travel in the night?" Fireheart shook his head, in disagreement as he thought of the dog that still ran loose in the fields.

"It's too dangerous, we have a lot of kits to look after and the dogs are free to roam at night." Fireheart told her. Goldenflower stiffened when she heard mentioned of the dogs, her pale golden fur stood upright fear. Sparrowfeather murmured comforting words to the queen.

"Fireheart's right," Ravenpaw spoke up, he stood and gave his body a stretch from his spot on the haystack. "If you want to travel safely from here and through WindClan territory it's best to go while the sun is out."

"But we risk running into a WindCLan patrol," Goldenflower told them, with a look of worry "They are likely to be aggressive."

"How so?" Maplefall asked her.

"Tigerstar told them about Brokenstar's death, so they weren't hostile any longer about that. But Tigerstar's made it clear he hasn't forgiven WindClan's attack on ThunderClan's camp." Goldenflower explained to them, "It's likely they will be watching out for an attack from ThunderClan.

"So they might think we're a battle patrol." Maplefall muttered ruefully and sighed.

"We'll have kits with us," pointed out Sparrowfeather, "They should be protected by the code. They shouldn't attack us if they see us carrying them." Graystripe didn't seem to like the idea of moving through WindClan's territory while, the WindCLan cats were likely to be hostile. Goldenflower also seemed nervous. "WindClan aren't stupid, they wouldn't hurt helpless kits," Fireheart murmured reassuringly to them both.

"So shall we go just after dawn?" Maplefall asked as she looked around at the gathered cats. Murmurs of agreement rang out amongst the group.

"Then we'll leave in the morning." Maplefall meowed with finality. "Everyone go and rest, we'll need our strength tomorrow." With that she leaped from her spot on the hay and headed off to find her own nest. Jake followed after her. Sparrowfeather and Goldenflower headed over to Cloudpaw and the kits to sleep. Raincloud headed over to the nest of hay Willowkit, was curled up in. Fireheart followed after her and resumed his position on his side of Willowkit. Raincloud taking the other side. They hunkered down for the rest of the night.

"Thank you Ravenpaw," Fireheart meowed to black furred tom, "We won't forget you."

The sun had just risen and the cats wanted to try and get a move on, hoping to miss the WindClan dawn patrol or at least pass through before they made their rounds. Fireheart and Graystripe were with Ravenpaw, meowing their last goodbyes to the tom. Not knowing if they would ever see him again.

"Nor will I forget either of you," Ravenpaw purred softly, he touched noses to Fireheart and Graystripe. "I wish you all the best on your journey." Goldenflower had said her goodbyes to the tom and wished him well, before making sure the kits were ready for travel. Willowkit broke away from the golden queen's fussing and bounded up to Fireheart.

"Fireheart, will you carry me today?" she asked with a soft voice. Fireheart nuzzled the little she-kit softly. He paused thinking about it, when the answer was taken from him.

"Fireheart you know the way, you'll lead us through WindClan territory." Maplefall told him. Fireheart nodded in understanding. He noticed Willowkit's disappointment and nuzzled her again.

"I'll carry you when we're out of the forest, Okay?" Willowkit thought about what he told her,

"Okay Fireheart," she meowed and bounded over to her mother, who immediately picked her up. Graystripe picked up Stormkit and fell in step behind Fireheart, Cloudpaw lifted up Featherkit in his jaws and stood beside Graystripe, Raincloud stood on the other side of Cloudpaw. Sparrowfeather padded up next to Fireheart. Goldenflower lifted up Bramblekit and fell in step behind Raincloud, with Jake coming to stand beside her after picking up Tawnykit. Maplefall took up the rear.

"Are we ready?" Fireheart asked, and got murmurs of agreement. "Then let's go!" Fireheart started the trek away from the barn. The sounds of the dogs barking made some of the kits squeal in fright. Sparrowfeather fell back and murmured words of encouragement to the kits, who calmed down after hearing her reassurances.

They had reached the moor, the wind was blowing strongly and it carried with them the scent of a WindClan patrol. Fireheart glanced back noticing Goldenflower's nervousness in her face. He didn't blame her, WindClan's territory was vast and open, with no sign of cover anywhere in sight. It was nerve-wrecking for the queen who was use to the protection of the trees.

Suddenly the scent of WindClan grew very strong. 'Oh no,' thought Fireheart as he looked around for a place to hide, for the traveling group cats. There wasn't any badger set nearby nor any rabbit holes. 'It's too late,' he thought with dismay, as he saw a patrol of WIndClan cats appeared racing in their direction.

Jake, and Graystripe put their kits next to Cloudpaw and Goldenflower and raced forward to flank Fireheart, Maplefall joined them. Raincloud, Goldenflower and Sparrowfeather gathered the kits together and formed a protective circle around them. Cloudpaw put down Featherkit and stood behind Fireheart.

Fireheart could make out the WIndClan cats approaching, Tornear, Mudclaw, Onewhisker Webfoot and an apprentice that looked familiar to Fireheart but he couldn't place his name.

"I knew ThunderClan would invade us," hissed Mudclaw as he circled the group. Maplefall hissed at the tom as moved closer to the queens and kits. Tornear, who appeared to be the one in charge of the patrol, looked into the familiar face of Fireheart.

"Fireheart what is the meaning of this?" asked Tornear looking over the group, his eyes resting on the kits. "Why are there kits with you?" Fireheart stepped forward to try and break the tom's gaze on the kits.

"We are just passing through," meowed Fireheart, he tried to keep his nervousness off his face as he talked to Tornear. "We are heading toward the gorge-"

"They're spying or planning an attack," Webfoot growled, Cloudpaw growled in reply and whipped his tail back and forth in anger.

"Do we look like a battle patrol? Or like we're spying?" he hissed, looking at Webfoot like he declared cats could grow wings and fly. "Why would we bring kits to spy or fight?" Fireheart was grateful to that Graystripe covered Cloudtail's muzzle with his tail. He still wanted to avoid a fight if at all possible.

"Please Tornear," Fireheart pleaded, "We promise we mean no harm to you or your Clan, we're just passing through." Jake padded forward, looking over each of the WindClan warriors.

"We should take them to Tallstar," Mudclaw growled as he looked around the group, "Let him decided what to do." Jake's ears perked up suddenly. Fireheart looked ready to protest, when Jake tapped Fireheart's muzzle gently with his tail to silence him.

"Did you say Tallstar?" Jake asked calmly looking pointedly at Tornear.

"Yes he is our leader," Onewhisker spoke up to tell him, Fireheart could see warmth in his father's gaze and wondered what fascinated his father about WindClan.

"Take us to him, we won't fight you." Jake told them, he silenced Maplefall with his tail covering her mouth. Fireheart barely kept his own jaw from dropping in disbelief. Tornear looked surprised by his decision.

"Very well, Mudclaw take the rear, I'll lead." Tornear told him.

Mudclaw looked warily at all the cats but nodded to Tornear falling in behind the group of cats, Tornear led the group toward WindClan's camp, Onewhisker looked apologetically at Fireheart and fell in beside him. The WindClan apprentice and Webfoot flanked the group from the other side. Graystripe and Cloudpaw went back over to the Queens to pick up their charges, Sparrowfeather picked up Tawnykit.

"What are you doing?" hissed Maplefall under her breath, as she glared at Jake.

"Trust me," was all Jake murmured to her, brushing his tail over her ears gently as he took the lead.

Before long the large group had reach the WindClan camp. Tornear lead the way with Jake, and Maplefall following him into the camp. The others fell in step behind them. WindClan cats looked around in bewilderment as they watched the visitors enter the camp. Onewhisker raced off to Tallstar's den, as Jake led the group to sit in the center of the camp. Fireheart looked around and spotted Morningflower, she looked questioningly at him. The WindClan apprentice who had helped sieze their group padded over to sit beside her. She gave his ears a few brisk licks. 'Gorsekit?' Fireheart wondered to himself as he watched them.

They hadn't been waiting long when, Tallstar emerged from his den, looking on in surprise by the guests in his camp. Fireheart noticed that Tallstar was staring pointedly at his father, Jake. Fireheart could see friendly affection in the old leader's gaze as he approached them. Tallstar stood directly in front of Jake looking pointedly at him.

"It's been a while, Talltail," meowed Jake lowly, with a playful flick of his tail on Tallstar's shoulder. The WIndClan leader purred softly.

"It's Tallstar now, old friend."

That's right I'm going to actually be cruel this time and stop right here.

So what do you think? Not much has happened as of yet. Tallstar and Jake are going to have a nice little reunion together.


	6. Chapter 6

Okay so many people believe for some reason that I gave up on this story…I haven't it's just that Life does get in the way…A lot…so it takes a while for me to get a chapter out. I've mentioned this in a few other stories but if I decided to quit a story I will let everyone know.

Chapter 6

In the quiet of the night many were sleeping peacefully, snug in their nests. The silence traveled from the nursery to the warrior's den. There was even silence to be found in the leader's den this night. It seemed that all the cats were sleeping peacefully.

Suddenly the silence was broken, by a lone voice speaking out in the darkness.

"This is just great, ThunderClan is falling apart." Grumbles an old tom with unusually small ears. An old black and white tom nodded in agreement.

"Shush Smallear, you shouldn't say things like that." hissed an old tortoiseshell she-cat from her nest. Smallear snorted in distain.

"It's true," He growled, angrily from his nest in the corner of the old tree stump. "We've already lost two warriors, an apprentice and two kits. Now we're missing a queen and two more kits."

"We don't know for sure that Goldenflower is missing," meowed a brown tabby tom with part of his tail missing. "She may have gone out for a walk with the kits, their old enough."

"Don't be a fool Halftail, we all know their gone." hissed the elderly black and white tom, "ThunderClan has lost so much since Tigerstar's taken over," An elderly she-cat missing an eye spoke up suddenly.

"Graystripe broke the warrior code," meowed One-eye quietly, "He had kits with a queen from another Clan. Tigerstar had a right to punish him for it."

"They were still half-ThunderClan, and their mother died, we could have had more potential warriors." Patchpelt growled lowly, "And how are we any stronger now that their gone?"

"Tigerstar wasn't wrong, Graystripe should have been punished." Mumbled Halftail agreeing with his mate. Smallear sneered in Halftail's direction.

"And what did Cloudpaw do to deserve exile?" hissed Smallear angrily, "You mean to tell me that Tigerstar was right to banish him also?"

"And Fireheart too," insisted Patchpelt, agreeing with Smallear. "Bluestar punished him already for helping RiverClan, he didn't deserve to be exiled." Halftail looked sadly down at his paws. One-eye gently pressed her muzzle into Halftail's shoulder.

"There's nothing we can do," meowed Dappletail solemnly, "They're gone, we cannot bring them back, and even if we could Tigerstar is the only one who can accept them back."

"Tigerstar, is too proud to accept them back, he was a fool for dismissing them." Hissed Smallear, "And now he has us making enemies with RiverClan and WindClan, and too few warriors to deal with those enemies."

"We shouldn't be speaking ill of our leader," One-eye spoke up softly. "If StarClan has accepted Tigerstar as our leader, than we must support their decision."

"StarClan also made Brokentail, ShadowClan's leader" murmured Patchpelt with a slight growl in his voice, "ShadowClan didn't benefit from him as leader."

"Enough, speak no more of this," hissed Dappletail, her tail lashing back and forth from her position in her nest. "I wish to sleep and I cannot with all of this arguing."

"Then sleep Dappletail," meowed Halftail, passively "We won't speak of this any longer." Smallear sniffed and curled into his nest with a huff and Patchpelt silently stared off unblinking into the distance.

"May StarClan watch over them all, "whispered One-eye, quietly. Her words seemed to echo in the dark of the tree stump. "Where ever they all are."

Fireheart had a million questions going through his head as he stared back and forth between his father and the WindClan leader. He could tell that they were more than just passing acquaintances but he couldn't see how the two of them could possibly know each other. Had Jake met Tallstar during WindClan's exile from the forest? He glanced at the faces of several WindClan cats. They all bore the same look of confusion. He looked to his mother, Maplefall, who also wore a look of surprise. She too did not expect this apparently. Fireheart watched as Tallstar moved in closer to Jake as he spoke.

"I did not expect to see you, when I was told there was a trespasser who asked for me specifically." Tallstar mewed deeply. Jake nudged the old leader.

"I must admit, I was surprised to hear you were a leader." Meowed Jake playfully as Tallstar nudged him back with his tail.. Fireheart stared in disbelief at his father as he and Tallstar touched noses in familiarity. As did several other cats looking on. Several WindClan cats began to mutter to each other, all asking the question of who Jake was and why was he so familiar with their leader.

"It's been so long," breathed Tallstar, as he glanced at the group. His eyes landing on the kits that were surround by the she-cats. "May I ask what brings you to WindClan?"

"We were just passing through, old friend." Jake told him calmly glancing over at the WindClan warriors. Tallstar blinked in surprise. He gave Jake a long stare of scrutiny.

"Why is ThunderClan passing through our territory and with kits?" meowed Webfoot, other warriors murmuring their own suspicions. Tallstar silenced them with a flick of his tail and a glare at Webfoot. He looked back into the eyes of Jake, with more curiosity.

'What business do you have with ThunderClan?" Asked Tallstar with a curious look on his face. Fireheart noticed Tallstar's eyes flicker toward him once while he waited for Jake's answer.

"None, my son Fireheart, his friend Graystripe and my grandkit Cloudpaw were exiled from ThunderClan." He told him softly. Tallstar purred softly at Jake's response.

"Your son, I knew he was yours the moment I saw him." Tallstar breathed softly as he let his eyes trail from Jake to Fireheart. "But, Banished? Whatever for?"

"Their new leader felt that former kittypets had no place in ThunderClan. Graystripe was banished along with them for a different reason." Jake explained, look over to Graystripe giving him a reassuring look.

"His reason? I can't see Tigerstar dismissing a warrior for any old reason." Tallstar asked warily. With a glance in the gray warrior's direction.

"He had kits with a RiverClan queen, she died in the process of giving birth to them." Meowed Jake. Some of the WindClan cats gasped and others began to mutter while sneaking glances over at Graystripe. Graystripe seemed to be ignoring the looks that WildClan was sending him.

"I see…" Tallstar murmured as he glanced over at Raincloud, Goldenflower, Maplefall and Sparrowfeather. "And the others?

"Goldenflower decided to leave because she didn't agree with Tigerstar's methods, Raincloud is caring for Graystripe's kits, "Jake explained to Tallstar. "And my mate Maplefall, and daughter Sparrowfeather are traveling with us all to find our home." He pointed his tail at Maplefall and Sparrowfeather respectively.

"Your home?" Tallstar echoed, looking suspiciously into Jake's eyes. Fireheart could see a little hurt in them. "I thought you only desired to be a kittypet?" Jake purred softly and placed his tail gently on Tallstar's shoulder.

"Only because I never thought I would see my old home again." He told him gently, "But I didn't lie when I said that I would never be happy here, just as you wouldn't have been happy with me. You have to admit that you have done well for yourself since then." Fireheart was in disbelief and continued to stare unblinkingly back and forth as he watched this exchange. Tallstar was silent for a moment as he took in Jake's words then nodded in acceptance. He turned to address his Clan.

"Cats of WindClan, these cats will be staying with us for a short while." Tallstar looked over at Jake who nodded to him. "We are to treat them how we did the Greenleaf visitors. They will not be staying forever, but they can hunt for themselves and others." Some WindClan cats began to protest, but Tallstar silenced them with a flick of his tail. He dismissed his Clan and let them go off to do their duties. Several warriors hesitated before staring their various task. Plenty began to talk quietly amongst themselves. Morningflower came over toward the group, with the young apprentice she had been seen with earlier trotting behind her. She came directly up to Goldenflower and Raincloud giving them each a nod of acceptance.

"I'm Morningflower, this is my son Gorsepaw," the she-cat med, She nodded toward Fireheart and Graystripe. "Fireheart and Graystripe helped bring our Clan home once and Fireheart helped me carry my son home. I owe him so much." She blinked gratefully into Fireheart's eyes. He sheepishly licked his chest in embarrassment. Gorsepaw dipped his head to Fireheart in acknowledgement, before turning to the white furred apprentice sitting beside him.

"There is room in the apprentice den," meowed Gorsepaw, he meowed to Cloudpaw, "Come there is a spare nest beside my own." Cloudpaw nodded and followed after the young apprentice. Morningflower stepped forward and touched her nose to Goldenflower's shoulder.

"Come rest, Goldenflower, you too Raincloud there is room for you in the nursery. "Meowed Morningflower, as she lead the two queens and the young kits to the nursery. Barkface padded up to the group. He regarded Sparrowfeather with a warm look.

"Greetings, my name is Barkface, I am WindClan's medicine cat." meowed softly as he greeted the group. Sparrowfeather perked up at the words medicine cat.

"I'm interested in herbs and healing." Sparrowfeather meowed with a little excitement in her mew. Barkface looked her over and purred.

"I had a dream, a dear friend of mine told me you would come here." He purred softly. Touching his tail to Sparrowfeather's shoulder. "She told me that you were in training to become a medicine cat." Fireheart blinked slowly at his words. 'Spottedleaf?' he wondered to himself.

"Yes I am," meowed Sparrowfeather softly. "I went to Highstones and shared tongues with StarClan. They've accepted me." Barkface nodded to her and turned heading toward his den. He motioned for her to follow him.

"Come Sparrowfeather," rasped Barkface quietly, "Come share my den with me, I can tell you all about herbs and our code."

"Thank you Barkface," she purred softly as she followed after the elder medicine cat. Onewhisker who had been talking with Maplefall, began leading, Maplefall and Graystripe to the warriors den. Fireheart began to follow after them, pausing as he caught sight of Tallstar gently touching his nose to Jake's shoulder.

"When you're settled, you should come to my den, we can talk more." Tallstar told him, and with that said the old leader stood and headed for his den. Deadfoot who had been watching rose and followed after Tallstar. Fireheart watched him go for a moment the moved to stand beside his father.

"Jake, how do you know Tallstar?" Fireheart asked still trying to shake the shock off his pelt. Jake watched Tallstar's form disappear into his den, with Deadfoot following after him, he then turned to Fireheart.

"It's a long story son," Jake meowed with a tired sigh, "But the gist of it is, I met Tallstar when he was still a young warrior. He was filled with so much anger, and had been dealt a rough life, he felt unwanted here in WindClan. Hard to believe I know, but anyway, he left WindClan to hopefully find the place he was meant to be."

"He left WindClan?" Fireheart's jaw dropped in shock once more. He thought for a moment about when he had brought WindClan home and how happy Tallstar had been to return home. He couldn't imagine him ever wanting to willingly leave his home on the moor. He glanced slightly back at the den Tallstar had disappeared into with surprise on his face.

"Yes, he did." Jake told him, his eyes glazing over as he began to remember. "I went with him for the adventure and also with the hope that I may find SkyClan again." Fireheart blinked slowly in realization.

"But you didn't find them." Fireheart stated. Jake nodded sadly looking up at the sky.

"No, I didn't, that was why I was a little reluctant to leave the twolegplace again." Jake sighed, as he looked over at Fireheart. "Tallstar wanted me to join WindClan with him." Fireheart stared at him in disbelief. He couldn't believe his father had turned down the chance to be a part of a Clan again.

"Why didn't you join him?" Fireheart asked him in wonder. Jake merely looked at his son.

"Could you honestly imagine me as a WindClan cat?" Jake snorted in amusement. "I could never be happy here, I always knew that, though a day hasn't gone by that I haven't missed Tallstar."

"He was your friend," Fireheart meowed in understanding. Jake shook his head.

"He is my friend, just because we were apart didn't change that." Jake told him, Fireheart looked at his father in a new light. Despite returning to his life as a kittypet, he never stopped being Tallstar's friend. For a moment his mind went to Smudge and he wondered if the cat he had spent his kithood with still regarded him as a friend.

"I'm going to speak with Tallstar now," Jake meowed softly to Fireheart. "Would you mind making a nest for me in the warriors den?"

"Of Course," Fireheart told him, Jake gave his son a lick on his ear then headed over to Tallstar's den to speak with his old friend once more.

Fireheart watched as his father enter Tallstar's den then headed to where the warrior's settle to sleep. He waved his tail in greeting to Whitetail who was fixing her own nest. He came to sort out his nest with Maplefall. Maplefall glanced over at him as he smooth out a nest.

"So your father, knows the WindClan leader." Maplefall stated to Fireheart.

"Yes it would seem so," Fireheart murmured, "Apparently they went on a journey with one another when they were younger."

"I see, I suppose we should count ourselves lucky then." Maplefall commented as she glanced around the camp. "It's so odd to sleep in the open."

"We'll have to get used to it." Fireheart pointed out to her, "After all we might not always have a shelter to sleep under."

"Yes that's true." She nodded, as she finished the nest she had made. "Hopefully it won't be something we get used to." Fireheart silently agreed with her, the thought of sleeping out in the open sent chills down his spine. He noticed his mother seemed troubled about something but he didn't want to pry.

"Maplefall…How did you meet Jake?" he asked, Maplefall purred at his question.

"You mean the second time?" she asked softly her eyes misting over as she began to think back. "I had just been accepted into my twolegplace home. I was fearful of my new surroundings but I tried not to show it, and I was a little depressed because I realized I would likely never see my Clan again. I decided to at least try and get my bearings in my new home. I wandered around the twolegplace to see how far I could go. I jumped into a random garden out of curiosity and bumped into a dark gray tom cat. He wasn't pleased that I had come into his garden and well he attacked me. I wasn't exactly in good fighting shape, since I had been coped up for a long while. So fighting the tom wasn't easy, he was also bigger than I was and a little stronger. I was pinned to the ground and the kittypet was going to either kill me or give me a horrible wound. The nest thing I knew, a fiery pelt slammed into the tom battering him with great fury."

"So Jake saved you from the kittypet?" Firestar asked her quietly.

"Yes he did, I was surprised to see him. He had put on quite a bit of weight." She purred softly in amusement. But I was grateful. I had liked him and admired him for a long time. Your father is so modest, He wasn't just a great warrior in our Clan. He was once the Clan deputy." Firestar's eyes opened wide in shock.

"The Clan Deputy?" he nearly yowled. Fireheart tried to imagine his father as the deputy of a Clan. The thought seemed so foreign to him. He could scarcely believe it. Fireheart couldn't believe just how much he had learned about himself. Finding out he was a SkyClan cat was a huge surprise and then to discover that his father knew Tallstar and was once the deputy of a Clan was beginning to Fireheart wonder if he was dreaming. It almost sounded too farfetched to believe. He wondered what Jake and Tallstar were discussing in the WindClan leader's den.

"You had kits," Tallstar purred at Jake, with a fond look in his eyes. He was settle in his nest with Jake lying beside him. It made him think of the time he had shared a nest with Jake in the twolegplace. Memories that had once been so distant were fresh as the morning dew with the return of his friend.

"Yes, I had kits with Nutmeg…" Jake explained to Tallstar. "Sparrowfeather and Fireheart are only two of my kits. There were others in their litter. There homes were further from my twoleg nest. I do not know where they are our how they are doing."

"What of Quince?" Tallstar asked remembering that there had been another she-cat who had been Jake's mate. Jake sighed as he thought of the gray she-cat.

"I drifted from her," Jake told him quietly. "I'm not proud of it but reuniting with Maplefall changed a lot for me. She was from my old home and I had always admired her. My heart tore in two when I was taken from my old home because I thought I'd never see her again."

"But she came back to you." Tallstar murmured. "This old home you speak of…Where is it? What would make you leave the twolegplace again?" Jake shifted uncomfortably and seemed to be debating something with himself. He finally turned his emerald gaze onto Tallstar's.

"I haven't been entirely truthful to you old friend," Jake meowed softly. "I have a long story to tell but it is the truth."

"I'm listening." Tallstar told him sincerely. Jake proceeded to explain everything from the time of his capture to reuniting with his son, daughter and grandkit. Tallstar listen to it all quietly only asking a few questions here and there.

"Your quiet," Jake meowed worriedly. Afraid that his friend thought he had made the whole thing up.

"You always seemed to have some knowledge of the Clan even before we met," Tallstar observed, "I thought it was just because you spied on the other Clans when you could…But it seems I was wrong." Jake's ears perked up happily.

"You believe me? About SkyClan? Everything?"

"Yes I do, I had always wondered about Fireheart, he reminded me of you." Tallstar told him with a warm look in his eye. "From the moment I saw him, I had wondered if he was your kit. It makes even more sense now why the life of a warrior agreed with him as a former kittypet." Jake mrrowed with laughter.

"He is every bit the warrior I hoped he would one day be." Jake meowed softly. "I'm glad he helped you in your time of need."

"He is a fine warrior indeed," Tallstar paused gathering his thoughts before speaking once more. "So you are going to find the home you lost long ago, and your family and friends are going with you?" Jake nodded.

"That is the plan old friend," Jake murmured quietly.

"So what happens now?"

Okay again it took a while for me to work out this Chapter. Mostly because I wanted to get a bit of information out. But I hope everyone enjoys this Chapter.


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